Lizzie Borden Took An Axe
by InnocentTraitor22
Summary: Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, her father sent her away to be "Cured".
1. Prolouge

_**"Lizzie Borden took an axe and gave her mother forty whacks; When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one" -American nursery rhyme.**_

"Lizzie? Lizzie!" A hard male voice echoed through a seemingly empty house on the corner of a London Street.

A middle age man clambered up the wooden staircase of the centuries old house, peering into bedrooms looking for his daughter.

"Elizabeth! Answer me dammit!" There was a loud, dull thump and he turned and faced the door of his own bedroom which he shared with his wife, Mrs. Borden.

"Lizzie?" He called and walked slowly down the hall and to the bedroom, he pushed the ajar door open and the hinges squealed and whined shrilly.

The sight he beheld shocked him.

The decorative carpet and hardwood floor was splattered with crimson droplets and the floral wall paper was decorated with a similar spray. In the middle of the floor a large, growing red puddle flooded the wood panels and soaked into the flooring.

The puddle surrounded the head of a similarly aged woman with greying hair that was matted with gore like a hellish halo, and soaked into the pink cotton blouse the corpse wore.

Two feet away lay a heavy steel blade axe with a wooden handle, the blade stained with the scarlet blood as was the handle that had been broken in half and dropped as if from shock or panic.

Mr. Borden stumbled back with his hand over his mouth before leaning over the banister and vomiting his stomach clean. Pale and shaking with shock and fear he ran down the stairs and to the living room where he fumbled with the rotary phone

"Operator! I need the police!" He stammered into the phone, "My wife is dead! There's blood everywhere!"

The operator sent the police swiftly and asked the shaken man if there was anyone else in the home, to which he replied with an unsure realization. "My daughter, My daughter Lizzie. She's supposed to be home but I don't know where she is for sure."

As soon as he said that he felt a sharp, sudden pain between his shoulder blades and he jerked forward over the coffee table as the butt of a wooden handle rose above his head and came down hard, missing his cranium slightly and bashing his shoulder.

He turned and pushed off his attacker into the brick mantle. He pinned the small, frail looking young woman to the hearth and wrestled the wooden handle out of her grasp as she screamed and cursed at him. Spitting Like a wild cat she gave up the handle and scratched at him and grabbed, as if reaching for his thin, wrinkled throat to throttle him.

She managed to fight free from his grip and darted up the stairs with her father in close pursuit, yelling her name in desperation as she slammed her parent's bedroom door shut and locked it, listening to her father bang on the wood and plead with her from the other side.

The police arrived shortly after and followed the man's fraught cries upstairs where they forced open the door and knocked it off its hinges. They looked around the gory room and found no sight of the girl until one bobby knelt down to look at the body of the former Mrs. Borden and saw a thin, bony hand disappear from sight.

Lizzie was dragged out from under the bed like a limp rag doll, devoid of emotion, and handcuffed before being dragged down to police station while an ambulance and more police cars parked in front of the house as well as a mob of onlookers and reporters who photographed her and forced microphones into her face only to be pushed back by cops.

She was shoved into the back seat of a police car as journalists snapped pictures of her, getting the perfect view of her face as she stared out at then with no expression and two dark, empty eyes.


	2. The Agreement

"Elizabeth?"

Silence.

"Elizabeth." The doctor repeated firmly, gripping a pen firmly between chubby fingers that were topped with long, dagger like red nails.

She once again received no answer from the young girl in the white cotton uniform sitting across the small metal table from her, her small wrists chained to the arms of the cushioned chair and her feet swinging absently beneath her as she stared at nothing particular.

"Lizzie?" the doctor finally asked and the girl's head snapped to attention with wisps of her hair that had fallen out of her bun flicking momentarily into her face, eyes still dull but semi-alert.

"Yes?"

"Did you hear my question, Lizzie?"

The girl stared at her a minute before slowly shaking her head right to left.

"I asked you why you killed your mother."

Lizzie seemed to think very hard on this question, "I don't recall."

"Do you know why you attacked your father?"

"No."

The doctor noticed she kept staring at a patch of wall right behind her and turned to see if there was something there, but found nothing but a pale blue wall.

She swallowed, unnerved slightly but eyed the girl cautiously.

"Lizzie?" she asked carefully. "Do you know where you are right now?"

Lizzie looked around the empty room calmly. "I'm in a hospital"

"You're in a mental institution Lizzie, you were arrested yesterday because you killed your mother with an axe and then attacked your father. Do you remember any of that Lizzie?"

Lizzie stared at her passively, "Yes."

"But you don't remember why you did it?"

"No"

The doctor nodded and stood up before calling in the orderly to take the young girl back to her room, the orderly's large hand completely encircled her small bicep and led her along silently as the doctor exited the opposite door and met with a group of fellow doctors on the other side.

"Either she's detached herself from the situation or she just doesn't care." A young male doctor said instantly as the cart was posted on the projector.

"Elizabeth A. Borden. Twenty one years old, diagnosed with severe Antisocial Personality Disorder from a young age for which she has be medicated but apparently the medication has proven ineffective." He read off.

"Test scores show she is highly intelligent but shows a disregard, even contempt, for authority. She had been in and out of schools, either being expelled or removed."

"A pattern of bad behavior?" An older man asked from his chair and the young doctor shrugged, "there's no proof, but according to her teachers Lizzie seemed to be a bit of a "bad luck" magnet, and accidents seem to follow her around, for example." He pulled out an incident report from a primary school.

"Apparently when she was attending primary school a young boy cut off one of her pig tails, a complaint was filed and the boy was punished accordingly. The next week in the art room the boy's right eye was sliced open, nobody saw what happened but the report says that the boy must have been running with a pair of sharp scissors. Lizzie was the only one within ten feet of the boy and another student insisted she saw Lizzie trip the boy. There was no proof, but Mr. Borden was still asked to remove Lizzie from the school."

The young doctor removed the report from the projector, "and that's just one event, she had also shown signs of sadism, pyromania, and sexual depravity. The point is Elizabeth Borden has shown constant violence, manipulation, and emotional detachment all her life according to her father and teachers. However she has been ruled competent by the courts. A sentence has yet to be determined."

"What's taking so long then?"

"Well it's a complicated case" The female doctor explained, "she's underage, mentally ill…"

"But she knew what she was doing! She knew it was wrong and brutally killed her own mother and tried to murder for father!"

"Actually Mrs. Borden was Lizzie's stepmother. Her biological mother died when Lizzie eight years old." She reviewed the file. "It was a fatal car accident at which Lizzie was present, the girl suffered severe head trauma but apparently made a full recovery."

"Do you think the head trauma could have set off the ASPD?"

"Possibly, combined with the trauma of losing her mother at a young age, along with a biological predisposition to it."

The female doctor jumped back in and to recontrolled the room "Certain people have reviewed her case and have taken an interest in it."

"Who?"

She sat down and sighed, "How many of you are familiar with the Ludovico Technique?"

* * *

Lizzie snapped out of her daze soon after her meeting with the doctor and sat on her cot glaring at the door.

Her throat was sore and raw from screaming for someone to let her out but she knew no one would help her now, they thought she was insane.

A fucking psychotic.

After all, what sane person bludgeons their own stepmother to death with an axe?

She eyed the camera hidden in the corner of the white room and thought of hurting herself, tearing out her hair or scratching her skin to make them come and open the door to sedate her or put her in a straitjacket so she might be able to dart out.

But she knew she was far too small to get past the large, beefy orderlies.

She felt no remorse or sadness over her crime, she and her stepmother never got along any way. But she did feel fear for herself, what would happen to dear little Lizzie Borden?

Would she be kept locked up in this hellish hospital for the rest of her days, heavily medicated among the loonies? Or would she be taken to jail, charged as an adult for such a brutal crime?

She pondered this for quite a long time, until the door of her room was opened and in walked the female doctor and two orderlies, one of which was carrying a white canvas straitjacket.

"Hello Lizzie, how are you feeling?"

"Alright" she responded plainly, her dark eyes flitting about to see if she could manage an escape.

"Lizzie, I would like you to come with me please." The doctor said politely, "and it would work much more smoothly if you cooperated with us, if you don't mind."

Lizzie eyed her with an instant hate, "where are we going?"

"Just to talk to some people, would you like to step forward or will Mr. Johnson have to come to you?"

Lizzie eyed the tall orderly and willingly but halfheartedly stepped forward, offering her thin arms out so that he may slip the coat on and bind the ties in the back.

"Very good, I think we're going to get along just fine" the doctor smiled and Lizzie glowered at her, despising everything about this woman, from her patronizing nature to her long red daggers on her fingers.

She was escorted down long white halls that were lit with blinding florescent lights, behind the doors they passed she could occasionally hear a voice or crying, or some sort of dull, repetitive thumping.

They were silent as they reached a large white office with a hefty grey metal table and five chairs around it, three of which were filled up.

The orderlies sat her down in one of the remaining chairs and the female doctor left, leaving the orderlies to guard the door.

At the table sat Mr. Borden, and a man and a woman in white lab coats.

"Good evening Miss. Borden. How are we feeling today?" The man in the lab coat asked cheerfully and adjusted his thick glasses

Lizzie shuffled uncomfortable in the straitjacket, "Fine, I suppose."

"That's good, very good." He smiled and she glanced at all of them, then at her father.

"Hi Daddy."

The old man in the cast glanced at her with an unknown expression, but it contained a goodly amount of fear. "Hello Baby Girl"

"Miss. Borden, I am Dr. Brodsky, and this is my assistant Dr. Branom." The man in the glasses motioned to the severe woman to his right. "We understand you've gotten yourself into a spot of trouble."

"Something like that" Lizzie agreed

"Well, we have all gone over your file" He tapped on the folder in front of him, "and we have decided that you might be of more use to us outside of a hospital, have you ever heard of something called the Ludovico Technique?"

Lizzie nodded, "Yeah, it's that treatment they're trying to give people in jail to take away the desire to do bad things. It's all over the newspapers"

"In short, yes." The man stated. "It is still in the experimental stages but we think that you will be most valuable to us during the next experiment."

Lizzie leaned back and listened with interest, "How so?"

"You see, there is a young man in a state prison right now that shares many of the same…predilections as yourself. He has recently been chosen as the next subject of the treatment but our researchers are curious."

"About?"

"We want to know if the treatment will affect the female brain the same way it does the male brain." Dr. Branom explained, "so far all the test subjects have been violent males, but we have yet to run a test on a violent female. And since you and the upcoming subject are so similar in your pathologies, we thought it might make for a good comparative experiment."

"I see, and what, pray tell, makes me and this delinquent so similar?" Lizzie asked sourly, not really favoring the idea that she and a prison inmate were so alike.

"You both display sociopathic tendencies, are experts at manipulation, have violent tempers, not to mention you both come from similar social backgrounds and age group." Dr. Brodsky listed off and Lizzie thought on it.

"This experiment, what _exactly_ is the goal?" She pressed and the doctors smiled.

"To get rid of the desire for violence with your mind, and to produce a reaction to violence within you similar to that of normal people."

"I see" she repeated but with less enthusiasm. "And if I were so refuse this treatment?"

"Then you would most likely spend the rest of your life within the wall of this, or some other mental institution and would remain heavily medicated to prevent a danger to yourself and others." Dr. Branom replied tartly and Lizzie blinked.

She was backed into a corner, only in this corner she could not lash back.

She was defenseless.

She glanced at her father whose head was ducked down, he had only said two words the entire time.

"Daddy? What do you think?"

Mr. Borden swallowed and nodded but couldn't look her in the face. He loved his little girl more than anything in the world, but he didn't know what to do.

His daughter had killed his wife.

Was he to be first a father, or a husband?

Right now he was neither, now he was just a man, a man who felt like he had just lost everything that mattered to him in the world.

"You can make my daughter better?" He asked the doctors who glanced at each other.

"It has never been tested on a female subject, but there is a good chance that she will no longer have violent urges. If it works she will grow to be a healthy, helpful member of society."

The girl stared at her father who thought long and hard before nodding, "I think you should try."

Lizzie nodded. "Alright, if it means getting me out of here and going back to normal…I'll agree to the treatment."

"Excellent!" Brodsky smiled and opened the folder on the table and pulled out a large piece of paper. "Just sign this and we'll be set"

"What is it?" Lizzie took looked over the paper, it spelled out the intentions of the treatment and agreed that she would commute her sentence to time served and undergo the Ludovico Treatment, and that she would be helpful and cooperative until the treatment was complete.

"Sounds good enough" she sighed and wiggled in the still tight straitjacket. "If you could…"

"Oh yes, Orderly." The doctor nodded, "please remove the jacket?"

The orderly complied and Lizzie sighed in relief as the straps were loosened, then undone completely and she was able to stretch her arms.

She reached for the pen and skimmed the contract one last time before nodding and signing her full name before the contract was whisked out of sight and they all stood.

"Wonderful, you will be transferred to the Ludovico Institute tomorrow promptly at nine in the morning where you will meet your fellow test subject. Until then I suggest you get a good night's sleep."

The doctors shook her hand and left the room, followed by Mr. Borden who didn't stop to say good bye to his daughter before rushing out quickly.

Lizzie was escorted back to her room in the straitjacket once more and released once she was in the room. She sat on the cot thoughtfully and stared at the grey wall.

So that's it then, she pondered, she supposed she got lucky.

Had she been any other person she would be in jail or in an asylum for the rest of her days, or even put on death row and put down like a rabid dog.

Instead it was to be this new treatment that would supposedly "cure" her.

She had to admit she often wondered what it would be like to be as other people were, to be able to connect and form bonds as others did. She had never met anyone like herself, and she could never understand people's grief over death.

Maybe this treatment would improve her life.

Hopefully.


	3. Alexander

**_Big Thanks to the guest reviewer! Thanks for taking the time to read and review!_**

"Right this way Miss"

Lizzie was gripped by her bicep as she slid out of a large white van and squinted up at the large, modern looking facility. She couldn't stop staring until she was pulled through a pair of large glass doors.

That morning at the hospital she had showered and changed from the white cotton clothes the mental institute had given her and into a modest blue, shapeless, church dress with full sleeves that brushed the tips of her blue flats.

She had, much to her distress, not been allowed cosmetics so she bore palpable dark shadows under her deep set eyes and her cheeks were pale and ashen. Nor was she allowed any hair pins, and having snapped her hair tie, that left her long, uncut, straight hair hanging limply down her back.

Too look at her one was forced to ponder how it was possible that such a wispy waif could possible lift an axe let alone swing it so to murder someone.

In the building entry way everything was sterile white, except the large desk behind which sat two men in lab coats, and a large bright red sign with all the different rooms and labs printed in white across it with room numbers and floor numbers next to them.

"Good morning Sir." One of her escorts addressed the standing doctor, "Here to deliver a Miss. Elizabeth Borden."

"Good morning, we've been expecting you, the other subject arrive just an hour ago. I am Dr. Alcott" The escort produced a clip board with the transfer documents which were all signed by the doctor as Lizzie was brought forth and the doctor looked her up and down.

Lizzie did the same to him, as if to challenge him in some way.

"Very good, Miss. Borden if you would just follow Charlie here, he will take you to your room."

The police officer known as Charlie stepped forward and motioned in front of him. "Miss."

She eyed him with a careful sort of respect before nodding and stepping forward first as he followed her.

The escort watched her go before leaning over the counter to Dr. Alcott.

"A bit of advice, she's not to have any sort of sharp object, no metal items, and nothing she could somehow use to hurt herself or others. She's unpredictable and prone to bouts of violent rage." The escort informed him and Dr. Alcott smiled in a way that was almost a smirk.

"Oh, I think we'll be able to sort that right out sir."

Lizzie was lead down narrow white brick halls past grey metal doors until they reached an exceptionally constricted corridor that left her feeling slightly claustrophobic as Charlie unlocked one of the metal doors and pushed her in firmly but gently and locked the door behind her.

It was a plain little room that was much nicer than the one in the hospital. There was a single bed with clean white linens and a blue blanket on it, and a modest desk and shelves mounted on the wall across from it.

The room was lighted by a window that too up most of the wall with flimsy sheer curtain over it.

Lizzie looked around curiously, sitting on the bed and bouncing slightly to test it before leaning forward and examining the empty desk drawers.

Suddenly she could hear the clip of heels on the floor outside and the door opened to reveal Dr. Branom from the before, who eyed her still sternly.

"Good Morning Lizzie, How are you this morning?"

"Alright, ma'am"

"Good," she closed the door and set a briefcase on the desk before sitting on a small stool.

"Now, later you will become acquainted with your fellow subject."

"Yes, who is that?" Lizzie cut in before biting her lip, berating herself for her rudeness, "I mean, I've been extremely curious."

Dr. Branom nodded understandingly. "His name is Alexander, he is just your age, and like you is a murderer who has displayed sociopathic tendencies. But this must wait. Right now I will run a few tests on you."

She opened the suitcase and pulled out several thick pieces of paper, "I assume you are familiar with the Rorschach Test."

"Yeah, the inkblot test."

"Very good, I'll show you the picture, and you'll tell me what you see, alright?"

"Alright." Lizzie sat back as the doctor showed her the first card. She squinted at the card a moment before smiling a little.

"I see a man with a beard, and a large mustache."

"Very good." She flipped to the next one and Lizzie hummed.

"Two horses, fighting each other."

The doctor turned the next one over and Lizzie smirked, "looks like two double amputees dancing." She said half-jokingly.

"Alright" the doctor pursed her lips, "what about this one?"

Lizzie tilted her head, sending a few strands of long hair into her eyes which she brushed away, "maybe a music box, of a castle? Perhaps a chess piece?"

"Very good. Just a few more now." The Doctor showed her the next one and Lizzie scoffed, the stereotypical butterfly one. "I see a moth." She sighed, suddenly very bored with this whole procedure.

"Two more then."

Lizzie squinted at this one and frowned, "it looks like a heart." She replied, it didn't really but something about the shape made her say it, "not one of those valentine's day ones though like an actual heart. The kind that…pumps blood…and…"

Her eyes became far away as she pictured the head of the axe coming down and a spurt of blood hitting her in the face. Red dots splattering her pale skin and dress as her arms raised up for another blow

"Lizzie!"

Her head snapped up. "Yes?"

"The picture."

"Oh… right, it's a..." she sighed and wetted her lips. This one for some reason seemed strangely horrific to look at but she couldn't look away from it, simply staring with dark eyes.

"…Hell."

"I'm sorry" the doctor leaned it to hear her as Lizzie snapped out of her second daze.

"A spider" she corrected herself. "It looks like a spider."

The doctor nodded with satisfaction and put the cards away, she performed a few more tests such as word association and a memory test before taking up the case again.

"I believe you are ready to meet Alex, please come with me."

Lizzie obeyed and followed silently as, followed by Charlie the guard, they walked by labs and offices until they reached a semi-large room of all white with pale brown and blue furniture.

"Sit down on one of the couches, and He'll belong shortly." She left Lizzie sitting as she and Charlie went to go fetch Alex. Lizzie fidgeted and sighed, she felt like an ink stain in this room of pale colors.

The doors opened a moment later, with Charlie in tow behind Dr. Brodsky and a young man Lizzie's age. He had shaggy fair hair that fell to the nape of his neck and a wide nose that was smooshed and crooked as if it had been broken several times in his life.

He was dressed in a blue suit and tie with a pale blue shirt and grey shoes, he didn't look like a delinquent at all, until you got to his eyes. Dazzling blue eyes with a glint in them that one usually only saw within the eyes of predators on the prowl.

"We will leave you two alone, but you will be monitored by cameras in all corners of the room." Dr. Brodsky informed them and left with Charlie, leaving them both alone.

There was a brief moment of curious silence as Lizzie stood and they took in the sigh of each other.

Alex was the first one to break the silence, stepping forward with a perfectly charming smile.

"Hello there, little sister" he offered his hand to her. "Alexander DeLarge, Alex to most."

Lizzie eyed his offered hand and took it with her own, considerably smaller one. "Lizzie Borden."

Alex shook her hand and grinned, wagging a finger at her, "The bolnoy devotchka who tolchocked her dear old em with a hatchet."

Lizzie smirked smartly, "It was an axe, actually" His speech was similar to that of the other children in her old school, but she herself had never been taken with it.

"My mistake" Alex sat on of the other couched and Lizzie sat across from him. "I must govereet though, you don't like half as barmy as your pictos in the gazetta."

"How kind of you." Lizzie flashed him a smile, "You get the paper in prison then?"

"No, but the workshops always have a bit going around."

"Well, you know about me. What about yourself?" Lizzie pressed.

"Since you ask." Alex crossed one leg over the other, "fourteen years for the accidental killing of a person."

" _Accidental"_ Lizzie stressed the word incredulously, "killing of a person?" she laughed slightly, "and that's the story you're sticking with?"

"The judge didn't buy it either" Alex smiled a little.

"So you got caught huh?"

"Obviously," Alex scoffed at the silly question, "my so called droogies threw me under the bus and ran off, leaving me to the millicents."

"I'm assuming droogies in this context means friends?" Lizzie clarified and Alex nodded.

"Mind if I ask you something?" Alex leaned forward and Lizzie nodded, "shoot"

"Why did you do it?"

"Why did you kill that woman?"

"I didn't mean to, you did, why?"

Lizzie smiled a little with a twinge of sadness, "I don't know."

"That's a lie"

Lizzie frowned and glared at him, pulling her legs up on the couch, "why do you care?"

Alex leaned back and smirked, pleased to have stirred some sort of reaction out of her, "I'm curious."

Lizzie bit the inside of her cheek and huffed a little, "I just felt like it, _okay?"_ she hissed at him.

Alex smirked a little but hummed. "I fear we have gotten off on the wrong foot my dear, let's back track shall we?" He stood up and straightened his coat before insistently motioning for her to do the same, and she obeyed reluctantly.

"How do you do? Alexander DeLarge, a pleasure to meet you." He offered his hand and she frowned before taking it, only instead of shaking her hand he kissed it and drew back with a charming halfsmile.

"You are an odd one" Lizzie marveled, "Charming, but odd." She didn't exactly mean it as a compliment, but more as a statement.

The sky is blue

Ice is cold

Alex DeLarge was one odd duck.

As the doors opened once more, they looked up and both Doctors Brodsky and Branom entered swiftly.

"Good morning you two. How are we getting along?"

"Like Gin and Olives." Lizzie replied, still staring at Alex before smiling a little.

"Excellent." Brodsky sat next to Alex and Branom sat next to Lizzie. "Now tomorrow you two will start the treatment, and each treatment is made to fit the patient's specific, eh, predilection" He explained to them.

"Can we know about the treatment?" Lizzie asked and Dr. Branom shook her head, "I'm afraid since we did not inform any of the other subjects, to tell you two might cause adverse effects."

"So in short, we're walking into an experimental procedure with no idea what's going to happen." She laid out and the doctors eyed her.

"You're going to be cured" the man informed her sternly and stood up. "Now you two are going to be subject to a physical examination, and an assessment of your health. Then you're going to get a good night's sleep and be bright eyed and bushy tailed for us in the morning."

"Of course brother sir, you can rely on me sir" Alex stood up with a cheerful smile and Lizzie eyed him in slight disgust.

"Very good. See, Alex is in the spirit of things. Now off you go."

They were escorted out of the room by Charlie and Lizzie glanced at Alex.

"Kiss Ass" she muttered and Alex frowned, discretely reaching over and pinching her thigh painfully making her squeal.

Charlie eyed them but didn't say anything as they were pushed into their separate rooms, which just so happened to be right next to each other.

Lizzie growled as she entered the room and found a pair of off-white sweat pants and a sweatshirt laid out on the bed for her fitness assessment. She changed quickly and eyed herself in the small wall mirror.

"Ducky" she muttered under her breath and sighed, suddenly realizing that _maybe_ she should have read that contract a bit more closely and thought this through before agreeing.


	4. Night one, Day one

That night Lizzie reclined on the thin mattress with her head resting on the pillow, staring up at the white ceiling as the moonlight shined through the large window.

She sighed and raised one hand up into a moonbeam and watched as a shadow of her fingers danced on the wall beside her.

It was so peaceful, so quiet, like a night in the country side only without the hum of bugs in the woods.

 _Thunk_

She jumped slightly and rolled on her face to face with wall with curiosity, the noise had come from the other side of the wall. That was Alexander's room.

She hesitantly leaned in and pressed the side of her face to the cool plaster walling and listened closely, she heard quiet shuffling and the slight squeal of mattress springs as if someone was sitting up or laying back down.

She thought and hesitantly raised her fist, tapping one knuckle of the wall quickly. _Taptaptap_

She waited with baited breath, but getting no response she repeated the action. _Taptaptap_

Still nothing, she sighed with slight disappointment before rolling back over to get some sleep, closing her eyes slowly and letting her weight sink into the pillow.

 _Taptaptap._

She opened her eyes and looked at the wall.

 _Taptaptap_

It was a deeper tone, with more weight behind each tap. She rolled over and responded with the same tapping and got a similar response back.

"Alex?" she said in a loud whisper with her face inches away from the wall.

"Hi, hi, hi there, Little Lizzie. Shouldn't you be getting some spatchka like a dobby little devotchka?" The hushed reply came from the other side of the wall.

"Couldn't sleep" she sighed and looked around, "how is it I can hear you so well?"

"There's an air vent down in the corner, just under the bed" Alex instructed her and she slipped out of bed and onto the floor. Sure enough under the bed she found the open vent and she shimmied under the cot to get to it.

"Alex?" She whispered and she peered through the grate, she could see right into Alex's room and it was identical to hers only mirrored.

She heard Alex creep off the mattress and watched him squirm under the bed as well so that they were face to face.

"I must say it's a nice view down here" He said half-jokingly and Lizzie smirked and snorted slightly before truly smiling just a little.

"Hey uh, sorry for calling you a Kiss Ass earlier. I suppose that was sort of out of line." She muttered and Alex smirked,

"A little thing I learned in the staja love, if you're enthusiastic about their way then in their glazzies you can do no wrong"

Lizzie thought on this and found it made a certain amount of sense. "I suppose you're right on that. So what do you think?"

Alex paused and his eyes flitted over her through the grate, "I think I can viddy down your top"

"Wha-oh" She yanked up the neck line of the white pj's, "Not that, pervert, I mean about the treatment. Don't you think it's a little strange that they won't tell us anything about what we're about to go through?"

"Well I suppose," Alex shrugged "but if I'm to be a free young malchick again in a fortnight's time, I'll put up with just about anything."

Lizzie nodded, she couldn't begin to imagine what went on in prison but she imagined if she had spent any amount of time in one she would be right there with him.

"Do you have any plans for when you get back?" She asked.

"Not yet, you? I imagine you have a strong young chelloveck waiting for you on the outside"

"Yeah no, for some reason men find me off putting." Lizzie sighed. "I've already graduated, but maybe I'll go back and get my doctorate."

Alex scoffed

"Keen on the old skolliwoll are you?" he eyed her critically and she smirked. "You're not?"

"Only music." Alex replied and Lizzie nodded.

"I get that. Classical?"

"Ludwig Van"

"Beethoven" Lizzie smiled fondly, "Do you have a favorite piece?"

The subject instantly turned Alex's full attention onto it and her, there was a light in his eyes that could be seen even in the darkness that had engulfed them both.

"The ninth symphony, the lovely, lovely ninth" he said in a voice that was full of love and fondness like a parent speaking of a child or of a lover speaking of their beloved.

"Yes, I know that one." Lizzie agreed, "But I have to say I prefer Piano Sonata number fourteen. It's just so…"

"Choodessny?" Alex offered with a slight edge of encouragement and she smiled at him, "yes, but something else as well, it's a journey. At first it is very sad and slow, but then it's happy toward the middle, then it seems almost manic, energized you know? That's my favorite part."

To Alex it seemed she glowed, as if she were the moon itself lighting up the night sky. The more she talked the brighter she became until Alex felt as if he would have to cover his eyes.

"It's a story" she said finally, her internal glow dimming, "the best stories in the world are the ones you don't have to use words to express"

Alex stared at her strangely and she shifted uncomfortably after a moment, "I think I had you figured wrongly little Lizzie." He finally broke the silence and she glanced at him.

"How so?"

"When I viddyed thee on that couch I thought thee some cold, bezoomy devotchka who liked to filly with hatchets and that was it." Alex grinned, "but you're smart, and you do have feelings other than cold and polite"

"You got all that from my interpretation of a piece of music?" Lizzie snorted and shook her head, "Funny, they said we had similar intellects"

"You can hide behind that bravado all you wish Little Lizzie." Alex laughed at her triumphantly, proud of himself for having spotted a crack in her icy fortress. "I won't stop you."

Lizzie glared at him and began to slide out. "Good night Alexander,"

"Spat well, Little Lizzie. Sladky dreams." Alex said in a teasing manner that made her skin crawl as she slipped back on the bed and buried herself into the covers, trying to ignore Alex as she heard him maliciously begin humming the fourteenth sonata just loud enough for her to hear.

"Barmy bastard" she muttered under her breath and sighed, allowing herself to drift off into sleep.

The Next Morning Lizzie washed and dressed in the provided white clothes quickly before a plain but filling breakfast of eggs, bacon and simple toast.

"Good Morning Lizzie." Dr. Branom entered the room with stern cheer.

"Good Morning Doctor." She whistled and sat on the bed. "The treatment is to begin today yes?"

"Yes it is. Each session is an hour and a half long. Alex is being prepped for his now and you will have yours after him." The woman explained to her and Lizzie nodded.

"Doctor, I know you're not supposed to say, but what _is_ the treatment?" she pressed.

Dr. Branom sighed, "Well it's really nothing to be nervous about my dear, and we're just going to show you some films."

Lizzie relaxed a bit but was still distrustful. The doctor left her alone and sure enough an hour and a half later she heard foot steps outside, one set normal and one set that seemed to shuffle and stumble.

As soon as the door to Alex's room shut the one to hers opened and in walked Dr. Brodsky and a pretty young nurse carrying a tray with a needle on it and a glass vial.

"Hello my dear."

"Doctor."

"We'd best get right along with this Lizzie so if you be so kind as to sit on the bed and roll your pants down slightly."

Lizzie sat but paused. "Why?"

"Before the procedure we must inject you with a certain mixture of vitamins and minerals to ensure that the treatment will not be too stressful on your body." Dr. Brodsky explained, "you see our doctors concluded that although healthy you're a bit underweight and your bones seem to be under nourished"

Lizzie nodded and did as instructed, hissing as the mixture was injected in quickly and she sat up.

"Very good, right this way then." He offered his hand and pulled her up and along. Charlie walked behind them.

"Now it is very important to remember the treatment might not have the same effect on you as it does on Alex, this is all about both curing you, and about seeing if there will be any distinction in results between men and women."

"I understand Doctor."

"Very good" He led her into what looked like a large movie theater and sat in a strange chair with leather straps on it.

She was secured in a straitjacket and sat in the chair where electrodes were pasted to her skin and the leather straps were lashed over her chest and arms.

"Is this all really necessary?" she asked the technician who did not reply, only eyeing her before requesting. "Lean back please."

She did so and he placed a strap across her head before applying a set of metal clamps to her eye lids to keep them open.

She had a sinking feeling this wouldn't be like anything she had prepared herself for.

The screen lit up as the tech steadily wet her eyes with drops.

First on the screen as a film between a man and a woman. They were fight about something and the woman was yelling at the man.

It bore no interest for Lizzie but she watched anyway passively until the woman in a rage struck the man across the face and yelled at him. Lizzie smiled at this as the woman slapped the man again and again until he sat down, a thin trickle of blood flowing from his nose and lips, defeated and the woman smiled walked away.

Lizzie watched the second clip with interest, it was a scene from a quality film like one made in Hollywood. A man was sharpening a large axe slowly, dragging the stone down the sharp blade with perfected skill.

Then the man stood and walked to a barn, and it was around this time that Lizzie began to feel a certain amount of dread fill her but she ignored it as the man entered the barn and found it full of animals, cows, chickens, horses, pigs, all sorts of farm beasts.

The man gracelessly grabbed a chicken from the pen and put it on a stump before bringing down the axe, chopping off the bird's head.

There was a spurt of blood and the body of the body still thrashed and jerked until it stopped. And after the head rolled Lizzie felt a strange and unwelcome feeling.

It felt like her heart had dropped down to her stomach and her throat contracted as if she was having an allergic reaction to something. She felt as though she would be sick but could not as the man executed chickens, pigs, goats, all who cried out and bleated loudly.

By the time He got to a large milk cow, which he hacked away at with no sympathy, Lizzie was genuinely in tears. The pain had consumed her chest and spread to her arms and legs.

She longed to double over into a ball and fall to the floor but she could not, nor could she cover her ears to the dreadful noises or close her eyes.

She could only whimper and beg the tech to have mercy on her.

The clip flipped to a new one, two girls. One of which was on tears while the other tore into her with horrid taunting and malicious smirks while laughing at the girl's weeping form.

Lizzie couldn't help but be consumed by soul crushing guilt that sent her into even more weeping.

Was this hell? She wondered mid-way through as everything tripled in severity and she began to suffer a smothering sensation and found she was unable to even struggle and by the end she was exhausted, and unsteady on her feet. The film died and she was released from her restraints as the other doctors began to file out.

"Miss Borden?" Dr. Brodsky knelt down as she sat in the chair, seemingly unable to move. "Come along girl, come, come," he urged her out of the seat with both hands on her shoulders to steady her.

Her eyes were far away, as they had been when she was sitting in the back of the police car and she followed them like a puppet back to her room where she was set to rest.

And rest she did, the second her head hit the pillow she was out like a lightbulb, some would call it more of a stress induced blackout than sleep.


	5. The Shower Scene

**Big thanks to MissFem for the review, I always appreciate it.**

"How are you feeling?"

"Not…great"

Lizzie sat on the couch in the large white room she first met Alex in. They would be allowed an hour of interaction a day for the next two weeks in the hopes that their conversations would have a therapeutic effect in addition to the treatment.

"Did Branom talk to you to?" the blond boy asked her and Lizzie nodded, her long legs pulled up on the couch and her knees pressed into her chest.

"Yeah, apparently they're 'pleased' with the effects of the treatment but they haven't noticed any strange differences between results" She mumbled, her head was pounding and her body ached.

"Hey are you feeling a little…sore?" she asked, and Alex grimace and nodded.

"I feel like I've been tolchocked by a motorcar" He confessed and she smirked a little, slowly becoming amused by his turns of phrase.

She had come to accept that Alex would be her only comfort for the next two weeks so she might as well try to get along with him and play nice.

From what she had rendered from their late night chat through the air vent and from their first meeting she had determined the he was charming, and handsome, and he knew it all too well.

He wasn't dumb by any means, in fact the doctors had been correct with their assessment that they were on equal footing intellect wise.

But they had expressed in differently, Alexander had street smarts and wicked cunning, he could and would wheel and deal anyway he saw fit to get what he wanted. While Lizzie was book smart and genteel with a quick working brain dedicated to logical and analytical thinking.

"It's just two weeks" Lizzie reasoned with a sighed, "Just two more weeks and whether we're cured of not we'll be free." She eyed him, "I imagine that holds a lot more meaning to you than it does to me huh?"

Alex didn't say anything but he nodded.

It wasn't until being locked up that he realized how much he had taken his freedom for granted. But he knew the first thing he wanted to do when he got out.

Find his Droogies.

He would be damned if they got away with what they did to him. He began to wonder what had become of them after the betrayal.

Part of him wanted them to be dirty old drunkies living under a bridge, howling away and clutching a bottle like the tramps they used to have a bit of fun with. He wanted to come upon them alone and kill them and actually mean to this time.

But another part of him wanted them to be grown, getting jobs and flats, maybe have some malenky devotchka on their arm giggling and grinning. He wanted their life to be just beginning so that he could take it away from them like the vengeful Bog of Old who would strike down wayward sheep then have a bit of fun with their weepy, dratting ptitsa while they lay on the ground in a pool of the red, red vino.

"Alex? Alexander?"

He snapped back to reality, and found Lizzie staring at him with a slightly annoyed but concerned look on her face.

"You okay?"

"Huh, yeah. Real horrorshow." He assured her and she hummed.

"You know I don't think I've ever seen a person make that face." She noted and Alex raised an eyebrow, "what face?"

"Well I can't tell if you do it when you're thinking or you've just stopped listening but you just sort of stare off into space and…tremble I guess." She shrugged and Alex sniffed.

"Appy-polly-loggies little Lizzie." He leaned back, "I was just thinking about what I'm going to when I get out."

"Figured it out yet?"

Alex eyed the cameras and smirked knowingly, "I'll tell you later."

Soon they were escorted back to their rooms, and Lizzie was escorted to the washrooms by a nurse to shower quickly.

She threw her long rope of wet hair over her shoulder and began to pick out the knots as she reached forward to turn off the water.

Wringing her locks she stepped forward only to jump back with a yelp, hissing as she looked down at her stubbed toe. A thin stream of blood trickled across the tile and she couldn't help but picture the first film she saw during treatment.

The thin rivulet of blood trickling down the man's face as he backed down from the woman over him, but the image was short lived as she felt a sudden tightness in her throat.

Lizzie leaned against the metal stall door and grasped at her throat as she began to fumble for the lock, heaving in gasps of breath that turned into sobs as her eyes began to sting with salty tears.

The stall door opened and she stumbled back, her spine slamming into the wall and making her whimper in pain as she slid to the floor.

Soon the feeling began to pass and her breathing began to steady out. Lizzie pulled herself off of the floor and stumbled over to the sinks on weak legs, gripping the stone counter and turning on the cold water quickly before splashing her face and neck with it.

What in Hell was that? She thought, shaken in the extreme. She had never felt that way before.

There was a swift knock at the door and she turned, "Miss Borden, are you alright?" It was Dr. Branom, inquiring on the muffled bangs heard from within.

"I-I'm fine" Lizzie called back and turned off the cold water before reaching for the towel and drying off quickly.

The door opened and the doctor walked in, backed by a nurse. "The nurse says she heard something fall."

"Just…stumbled." Lizzie swallowed and kept her back turned to them as she reached for the clean set of clothes. "I'm alright."

Branom eyed her up and down, spotting the thin flow of blood leaking from the side of her foot. "We'll have to get a bandage on that before it become infected." She said pointedly and Lizzie nodded, twisting her hair absently.

She followed the doctor out and back to her room where she doctored the foot with a simple bandage.

"Have you experienced any effects from the treatment?" she asked picking up her clipboard, "it's only the first day but it's not unusual to have a small effect so soon."

"Well, sort of." Lizzie sat on the bed, "When I was in the shower and cut my foot, I pictured one of the scenes from the films you showed me." She confessed, "and I…I don't know how to explain it."

Dr. Branom sat in the chair and eyed her curiously, "which clip?"

"The first one, the one where the man and woman were fighting and she gave him the bloody nose." Lizzie swallowed, her throat dry. "All I did was think about it for a few seconds and all of a sudden I…I felt like I was choking, I couldn't breathe."

The doctor began to write this down. "You felt like someone was choking you?"

"Well, not exactly, it was more like when you have an allergic reaction to something. And my head started pounding and…something _really_ strange happened."

The doctor leaned forward, a flicker hiding behind her iris. "What? What happened?"

"I started to cry." Lizzie said in a breathy voice, her mind being thrown back to that moment when she was trapped without being restrained. Attacked without an attacker.

"I don't think it was out of fear, but…" Lizzie thought hard, "I felt awful, like I was to blame for whatever was happening."

"How did you feel before this happened?" the doctor asked, "When you first pictured the clip from the film, how did it make you feel?"

"Uh, I don't know, I…" Lizzie sighed in frustration, "Satisfied, I guess. In the film he had lost, he was defeated and I…" she cut off and began to lay back on the bed and the doctor wrote this all down.

"So you envisioned the violent clip and felt satisfied, and then you felt guilty and began to have a negative reaction?" The doctor ran over the notes and Lizzie nodded.

"Well, Lizzie I can assure you that there is nothing to worry about." The doctor smiled slightly, "Everything you have experienced has been part of the treatment"

Lizzie sat up, " _That's_ the treatment?" She gaped.

"Yes, and as far as I can tell you have had an exceptionally strong, positive reaction to it." The doctor nodded and put away the pen.

"How on earth can you call that positive?" Lizzie asked, scandalized.

"Simple, your brain is being trained. By the end of these two weeks you will be completely cured." Dr. Branom said calmly, "I know it may seem unfair to you now, but we must be tough on you for your own good."

The doctor stood and nodded, satisfied.

"Well, all that is left is for you to get a good night's sleep. You will need it for tomorrow."

The doctor left her alone and Lizzie swallowed before laying back in the bed, exhausted and for a moment in the back of her mind...afraid.

"Psst."

Lizzie perked up, rolling over and dangling her head over the edge of the bed and finding Alex peering through the grate once again.

"Oh, Alex..." she slipped off and crawled under the bed, "You startled me."

"Apply-polly-loggies" Alex grinned, "But I have something that might interest you." He held up something that she could not see through the grate.

"What is it?" she asked and Alex motioned for her to lower her voice.

"It's a pen cap."

"and that would interest me how?"

Alex chuckled, "because my dear, as I have learned from experience the clip bit of these can rabbit quite horrorshow as a screw driver."

Lizzie watched him through the grate, "what are you..."

"Shh," Alex smirked, "viddy well little Lizzie, this is something they won't teach you in your dear Skolliwoll."

It took him a few tries but sure enough he was able to loosen the screws enough to pull the grate out.

"Here" he carefully pushed the cap through the gaps in the grate and Lizzie struggled to do the same. It took her double the time it took him but sure enough soon she was able to pull the grate out from the wall and there was a clean cut, metal lined corridor between their two faces.

"Wow," She giggled, "nifty"

Alex put a finger to his lips and disappeared a moment, returning with the thin pillow from the bed. He slipped the pillow over the hole between them.

"What'd you do that for?" Lizzie asked as Alex secured the pillow between them.

"So the zvook won't carry through the pipes."

"The what?"

"sound, our voices" He explained and she hummed with understanding.

"You know" she pondered, "you're a lot more clever than you look."

"Was that a compliment or an insult?"

"It's a fact."

Alex flashed her a half smile, "well if we're sharing facts, you should know that you are much more lovely without that vent over your face."

"I'm sure the complete lack of lighting helps" Lizzie shot him down and sighed. "I'm exhausted."

"Well then get some Spatchka"

"Nah, I'm already down here." She muttered, "So, still feel like you got hit by a car?"

"Not really," Alex shrugged, "not looking forward to the morn though."

"me neither." Lizzie shuttered, Alex shifted slightly and eyed her.

"So I heard you talking to Branom."

"Oh" Lizzie swallowed. "how much did you hear?"

"Enough" Alex stated plainly, "how are you feeling?"'

"I'm fine" Lizzie brushed it off casually, "honest I am, so the treatment took a little too well, I'm sure it will settle down by the time this is done."

Alex seemed unconvinced, but didn't say more. Lizzie eyed him and sighed.

"We'd better get some sleep." she began to replace the grate carefully

"Good night Alexander."

Alex sighed and replaced the grate on his side after removing the pillow.

"Sweet dreams then."


	6. Gentle Whispers From Adam to Eve

_**Another big thanks to MissFem for the review.**_

The next few days were a living Hell for both Alexander and Lizzie, and soon after the bathroom incident Alexander would start to feel a strange sickly sensation as well, that would only grow more extreme as time went on.

But by the end of the first week it soon became clear that for Lizzie, the treatment would be a literal nightmare.

" _No! No! Let me_ _ **go**_ _! I'm Sorry! I'm Sor…"_

Alexander shot up from his bed at the sound of strangled cries from the other room. Footsteps clobbered down the hall and the sound of jangling keys being shoved into the door could be heard.

The shrieking was piercing and bone chilling even to Alexander who reveled in the terror of others.

In the other room two orderlies struggled to pin down a writhing, thrashing Lizzie whose eyes were welded shut and her small face contorted in unabashed horror.

 _"I didn't mean to, I'm sorry! I'll be good I promise! I'll be good, I'll be…"_

"Lizzie! Lizzie wake up!" Dr. Brodsky shook her shoulders while Branom wrote down everything the girl uttered.

"I've brought the sedative Doctor." A nurse rushed in with a large hypodermic needle, "We need to wake her up first. Lizzie! Elizabeth!"

Alex didn't need to press his ear to the wall to hear what was happening, she must be having a nightmare but it sounded like they were killing her

"Sir! Dr. Brodsky Sir." He yelled through the wall. The older man paused and listened, "Alex?"

"Over here brother sir!"

Brodsky listened closely, "Never mind all this Alex, you must rest!"

"But Sir, I think I know how to wake her up brother sir!"

Brodsky paused, before sighing, "How?"

"I'd need to viddy her first sir."

"Can't do it, boy"

"But Sir, if she keeps going like that she'll hurt herself!"

Brodsky and Branom shared a look before nodding, "Go get him."

Branom rushed to the next room, quickly unlocking the door to find Alexander waiting. She dragged him into Lizzie's room where the girl was still howling and weeping as if she had a demon running through her body.

"What did you have in mind then?" Branom pressed and Alexander made for the bed, kneeling down next to the mattress.

"Can you let her go, please?" He asked politely and the orderlies reluctantly complied. As soon as her arms and legs were released Lizzie's limbs pressed into the mattress as if she were being pinned down by some unseen force.

"Lizzie? Lizzie?" Alex reached forward and brushed her bangs out of her face, her tense features softened at the gentle touch. "You're dreaming my dear, shhh shshsh."

She began to weep again, softly this time and Alex ran his fingers through her hair, "Sh, just slooshy the zvook of my goloss, there's no call to platch so my dear, what has you so poogly? Wake up for Uncle Alex now."

He spoke so softly to her, a rare occurrence for him unless he was sweet talking some tart into bed, and he stroked her shoulders and face with his fingers gently until she was completely still, flat on her back with her head still turned to the side. If you watched carefully you could see her elevated pulse flickering under the thin skin of her throat.

Slowly after a moment her eyes fluttered open, swollen and red from the terrible weeping she produced.

"Alexander?" she whispered in a hoarse voice that cracked painfully.

"Hush now, you're alright. Can you sit up like a dobby devotchka?" He braced her shoulder on his hand and slowly allowed her to sit up.

"I was having the most terrible dream," she began to weep again, "I felt like I was dying! It was so awful!"

"Shh, I know. Don't get worked up again."

The orderlies were made to leave as was the nurse who left behind the sedative injection.

"Perhaps it would be best if Alexander left…"

"No!" Lizzie almost barked then cowered back, a strange and unfamiliar reaction, "I mean…Please, I-I don't…I can't…"

"Alright," Brodsky nodded and sat in the chair, "he may stay for now. But we must go over this night terror of yours my dear, while it is still fresh in your mind."

"Okay." Lizzie nodded as her heart beat steadied.

"What happened in the dream, Lizzie?" Branom asked and the girl took a deep breath,

"I was in my house, and I was alone. I walked around the house and I was looking for something."

"What were you looking for?"

"I don't know, I can't remember. I went upstairs and looking in my room but nothing was there, it was completely bare. Then I went to my parents' room, but no one was there. I closed the door behind me and I looked down. There was blood on the floor, that's when I felt a horrible pain in my side and I fell down, someone was standing over me with an axe."

"Did you see who is was?"

"No, then all of a sudden I was in a barn, in one of the horse stalls and I could feel someone coming for me and I tried to get out but I couldn't."

"Why not?"

"I don't know!" Lizzie snapped, then flinched as her heart clutched tightly for a moment.

"I just couldn't, someone was coming for me and they reached the stall and dragged me out then they put my head on a stump and someone said "This is what happens when you can't behave." And then they raised the axe over their head and that's all I can remember."

She sighed, and the doctor finished writing it down.

"Alright, I think we have some very interesting data here." Branom nodded and stood. "But first I think it best that you both get some rest."

Brodsky nodded and Branom escorted Alexander out and quickly locked him back up in the room as Brodsky picked up the sedative from the metal tray and sanitized a spot on her arm.

"What's that?"

"It's a sedative, you will be able to sleep through the night without any more night terrors. " He explained and injected the sedative into her body.

"Now, get a goodnights rest, and tomorrow we will evaluate this new data." He patted her head like she was a child. "Sleep tight."

He locked her in and made for the lab with Branom.

"What do you make of all this?"

"I think, we have just found our differences between the male and female reaction to the treatment." Branom lit a cigarette.

"I believe Lizzie's reaction is a mostly mental and emotional reaction, feelings of extreme fear, guilt, and sadness, not to mention the feeling of being suffocated. But Alexander's reaction is similar to the other male test subjects, extreme sickness, a paralyzing effect, and fear." She pondered.

"Do you think it is a matter of gender, or of temperament?" Brodsky asked, "I mean personality wise they aren't all that similar."

"Possibly"

"The dream itself is a sign that the treatment is working, she's putting herself in the shoes of a victim instead of a villain, she's coming to understand the golden rule, do onto others as you would have them do onto you."

"What about how he managed to calm her down? Could that be a sign of possible bonding between the two?"

"It could just as likely be a skill the boy has acquired some way or another."

"Even if it was, it is unlikely that had it been anyone else Alexander would have jumped in like that." Brodsky pointed out.

"So what, a friendship? Romance?"

"No," Brodsky shook his head "people like them, they have a difficult time forming a normal bonds with others, relationships are often superficial and hallow for them unless there is a long term connection, not something that can be formed in just a week"

"What sort of bond then?" Branom asked tartly and Brodsky thought.

"A Co-dependent bond? Those hour meetings every day may have opened a bridge between the two, and I doubt they are all that fond of us so that makes each other their only comforts here."

Branom thought, "what about the wall?"

"What wall?"

"The wall between their rooms, Alexander could hear right through it and we could hear him just as plainly, do you think they could be communicating outside of the meetings through the wall?"

"Wouldn't we have heard it as well?"

"No, not necessarily."

"Hm…" the man thought, "what if instead of keeping them separated we push them together? What was the main problem with the other subjects?"

"When released they were unprepared for the outside world." Branom nodded, listening with interest.

"Exactly, they were incapable of blending in with normal society because they were no longer socialized. But if we keep these two together then it might prevent them from becoming institutionalized" Brodsky stood up and paced the floor.

"Yes, that just might work. And when released they will be forced to stay together, birds of a feather and all that. Their bond will make them stronger than the earlier subjects."

Branom sat back and thought, "The new Adam and Eve, washed clean of vice and sent to recreate a new Eden."

"Exactly."

Meanwhile Alexander sat on the bed in his locked room, a virtual prisoner.

Something ate away at him as he struggled to go back to sleep.

Why?

What had urged him to offer out help to a girl who was practically a stranger, who meant nothing to him what so ever.

Well, not nothing.

He felt a small connection, like a piece of thread chaining them together.

Dva birds in the same cage, he thought.

Two animals locked up together only have two options, Bond or kill each other.

I hate this place, he decided, and everything about it.

He thought of Lizzie, sleeping just a few feet away with only a thin wall between them.

She had looked so afraid, it was a fear he saw in the eyes of those he beat and battered and violated so brutally. That sort of fear only comes along when you feel the Reaper's cold breath on your nape and his bony hand on your arm.

Then she saw him, and she turned strange. Different from that cold, polite young woman in the dark dress he had seen sitting on the white couch, the one who made smart remarks and sly smirks into an art form, A person you could very easily dislike but none the less still respect the hell out of.

When Alex had first spotted her on the couch, his first instinct was to view her as he would any other devotchka.

She was nothing to him but a toy, something to filly with until he grew bored once more, but then she looked at him and opened her mouth and everything changed.

She was not impressed by him, she did not flirt with him, if they had been strangers on the street she wouldn't have given him the time of day.

She may have been charmed a moment but not in the usual manner, and what she had called him.

Odd.

 _"You are an Odd one"_

The Voice still danced in his head.

From that moment, when he realized that he had not impressed her, something changed slightly.

He tried to imagine taking her to the floor, giving her the old in-out real savage.

But for some reason it wasn't the same, in the vision she wasn't crying, she was laughing, grinning even. Scratching and Biting him right back with equal ferocity.

He tried to imagine hitting her, beating her down, but every time she would stand back up, wiping blood from her lip and she would smile at him, that same polite smile as if his blows did nothing but she didn't want to hurt his feelings.

If he thought himself a king, then she surely thought herself a queen. If he was an Emperor, she was an Empress.

But when she looked up at him in fear a few moments ago he saw a whole new painting. She had been small, afraid, helpless even.

She had stared at him as if he were some sort of savior and it didn't feel one bit like Alexander thought it would have.

There was no since of smug pride, there was only fear.

Because if something could effect such a proud, unshakable young woman like Lizzie Borden in such a way that she became an unrecognizable mess...

Then what in hell could it do to a malchick like himself?


	7. The Point is That it Works

**Another big thanks to all the people reading and to my reviewers! This chapter is a little long but I hope you enjoy it!**

The next day changes in the experiment took place immediately.

In addition to the meetings every day which were lengthened from an hour to an hour forty five, Alexander and Lizzie were served meals together as well. Though it seemed lately that neither of them were very hungry.

Branom provided them a book of poetry and short stories and encouraged them to read it together in the hopes that a common subject would provoke more conversation.

But much to the distress of both the doctors, Lizzie seemed to have fallen sullen and withdrawn after that night. During her treatment sessions she no longer screamed in pain that she was being suffocated, instead she would weep harder than seemed humanly possible.

And after each session she would remain silent, it was only when she was brought to the meeting room with Alex did she speak, softly.

Mostly she would ask him question, about his life and the many things he had done.

Alex couldn't have been happier with the arrangement, he found having someone who listened carefully to everything he had to say boosted his already glorious ego. And even if he exaggerated a few details here and there, if she noticed than she didn't seem to mind it.

He always knew when she was listening to, because she wouldn't move. If she was listening with great intensity than she would not move, she would sit still as a statue and stare as if his words fueled a film in her mind.

Once in a while, Alex would try to get a detail or two about herself and her life, but it was like pulling teeth and those answer he did get were noncommittal and bland.

The two young people never spoke of the nightmare incident, Lizzie being too embarrassed to touch the subject and Alexander simply didn't want to speak on it.

There were no more night terrors which ended with Lizzie being sedated, but in one other instance Alex once again saw that unwelcome fogginess in Lizzie's eyes despite the darkness.

He had been lying in bed, and it was well past midnight. Wavering between sleep and alert he at first thought himself in a strange dream.

The room was black as pitch, but in the darkness he heard muffled whimpering. He sat up slowly and looked about, but saw nothing but the outlines of furniture.

He listened closely and realized it sounded like it was coming from the vent shaft. Crawling off the bed, now wide awake, he slipped under the bed and pulled out the grate once more before peering through to the other side.

He saw a huddled mass under the bed, curled into the tightest ball a human being could possibly get into.

"Lizzie?"

The whimpering stopped and Alex reached forward, pushing out the grate on the other side with a struggle as his fingers just barely reached the other grate.

"Lizzie, are you alright?"

"I…I'm fine" a hard voice sputtered. "Go back to sleep Alex."

"Well, I was getting a lovely bit of spatchka. But I slooshied a malenky weepy zvook in the dark nochy and thought I ought to viddy in on you." Alex explained in his usual candor as Lizzie began to uncurl and turned slightly toward him.

Her eyes were wet but not red and swollen yet, but behind her dark glazzies was an unmistakable fear and sadness.

"Another nightmare then?"

"Yes, not as bad as the last one though." She nodded and wiped her eyes on her forearm. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"It's alright."

She stared at him a long time, until Alex thought for a moment she might have fallen back to sleep with his eyes open.

"Alexander? Do you remember what you first asked me when we met?"

Alex shook his head, and lied

"No."

"You asked me why I did it. Why I killed my step-mother."

Alex nodded, "You said because you felt like it."

"I lied."

"I know."

Lizzie swallowed and eyed him in the darkness, "Do you still want to know? Why I did it?"

"Is that what made you so weepy?" Alex asked curiously, as if Lizzie had suddenly grown a conscience overnight and decided to weep for her sins

"No, I wasn't crying for her," She admitted, "I was crying because it's my own fault I'm in here, I was careless, and stupid."

Alex smirked, "I don't viddy it possible you could ever be gloopy, if any veshch you're too oomy for your own good."

"I was" Lizzie said flatly, "I killed my step mother for a foolish reason, and it's put me here."

"Why then? Alex probed, "Why tolchock her with an axe?"

Lizzie swallowed, "I was so angry, I had just been taken out of another school and my step mother convinced my father to send me away. To a housing unit out in the country for young women, girls who've been knocked up or got hooked on some drug, you know the kind."

Alex did know the kind, it wasn't just malchicks who ruled the night streets and Alexander learned very quickly that a girl could pack just as much of a wallop as a man could, and if anything devotchkas were ten times as vicious because they held on to grudges until the second coming.

"She said either I went to the girls' home or I would be kicked out on the streets and cut out of my father's will." Lizzie sighed and wet her lips.

"The next day father went to work and I was practically under house arrest with my step mother. And I was just so _furious._ I went down to the basement to get a suitcase because I decided I wouldn't give them the chance to throw me out, and I would leave instead. But…" she paused.

Alex listened to the tale with attentiveness, knowing this would probably be the only time she would ever tell this story to anyone.

"What stopped you?"

"The axe" Lizzie said, her voice heavy with the memory, "Father would use it to chop wood for the winters, but it was just leaning on the water heater. As if it had been waiting for me. I didn't even stop to think I just grabbed it and went back upstairs and found my Stepmother in her room. And…well you know the rest."

Alex was silent, watching her carefully as she finished her tale. When it was clear she was finished he had only one question.

"Are you sorry you killed her?"

Lizzie looked at him, and Alex saw in her eye the same attitude he saw the first time he saw her as she drew her lips back into a small smirk, for a moment her old self once more.

"I'm sorry I got caught."

Alex thought suddenly of something strange going on.

"Why are you telling me this now?"

Lizzie bit her lip, her eyes going blank a moment.

"I don't know, I just felt as if I would die if I didn't tell someone. I don't know why"

Alex smirked back at her, "You're right, you were dumb." He confirmed but added "But it's my fault I'm in here as well."

Lizzie was surprised, she didn't except Alex to be the type to take blame. "You're dumb for killing that woman?"

"No" Alex shook his head, "But I was gloopy for trusting my so called droogies when all the signs were right in front of me glazzies. I saw the red flag, but I viddied I had it handled. Or I thought I did"

Lizzie nodded with understanding, "you got careless."

"Exactly. The minoota Dim and Georgie nachinated govreeting about a "new way", I should have viddied what was going about." Alex mentally kicked himself.

"Well, it shouldn't be too much to ask for friends to be loyal." Lizzie comforted him, "But there is an upside to all this."

"Oh?"

Lizzie nodded, "Alexander I don't think I've ever met another person like you in the world. And whatever happens here I'm glad we've met, if only for a fortnight."

Alex grinned, "I was just thinking the same veshch about thou, Little Lizzie. If I may govereet so plainly."

"And you may."

"You might have made a real horrorshow droogie on the outside."

Lizzie gave him a genuine smile, "Thank you Alexander. I like to think we'd have been friends as well."

Alex smirked, "well who's to skazat that we can't? Dva more days little Lizzie, and we're both home free."

Lizzie smiled, "You never told me what you're going to do when you get out."

"Since you ask," Alex hummed, "I plan of tracking down those sodding bratchnies and reminding them that…" He cut off suddenly and went pale.

"Alex?"

He made a choking sound and ducked his head into his arm as he began to retch and cough as Lizzie stood completely still, unsure what she could do.

But it soon passed and Alex recovered trembling.

"Alexander, are you alright?"

Alex nodded and caught his breath, "It's that wretched, sodding treatment they have us on. I can't even slam my fist down without feeling like I'm going to snuff it." He growled and Lizzie thought.

"So that plan's shot to hell, huh?"

"Aye, but don't worry." Alex managed to crack a small smile, "I'll get'em."

Lizzie gave him an encouraging smile, "I know you will."

She reached through the holes in the wall and patted his hand calmly, "we had better sleep then. Good night Alex."

"Sweet Nochy Little Lizzie."

Before they closed up the vents Alex contemplated for a moment kissing her through the vent, possibly coaxing her through the hole that was easily wide enough to fit her and into his bed so that he could purge two years of animalistic lust pulsing through him.

But as soon as he envisioned himself over her, taking her brutally, the sickness came again and he struggled to push it away by erasing the image swiftly from his mind.

"Fucking Hell" he muttered in frustration as he flopped on the bed.

Two days later was the big day, the one everything had been leading up to.

Lizzie and Alex had been provided their clothes which they had worn the first day and washed and ate quickly.

Lizzie was surprised to find that the formless dress she had arrived in looked somehow different now.

"Not surprising" Dr. Branom said as Lizzie stood in front of a mirror, tracing her hips and waist. "You were quite underweight when you came to us, I imagine the vitamins and quality food have put a little meat on your bones."

"Hmm" Lizzie frowned, not all together pleased with the change. Lizzie had few faults that she would care to admit, but one that she could not deny was her vanity.

Since she has blossomed into a woman at age twelve the mirror was one of her best friends, be it the gilded hand mirror on her dresser or the large mirror in the hall.

She pulled her hair back and sighed, oh what she would give for a hair pin.

"Come along now we mustn't keep them waiting my dear." The doctor led her out and they encountered Alex and Brodsky in the meeting room.

"Are we all ready then?"

"It would seem so. But just in case. Alex, Lizzie?"

The two eagerly stood at attention.

"Remember this is what you've both been working for, a little demonstration for the minister and the reporters and you'll both be on your way."

"We're ready sir, you can count on us." Alex grinned and Lizzie couldn't help smile a little herself, for she was positively giddy from excitement.

"Now remember, just act naturally. The treatment will do the rest. Alexander, you will be going first" Branom instructed them.

They were led to a large auditorium with a medium sized stage up front, where dozens of people sat and waited eagerly to see the results of this so called cure.

Branom and Brodsky left to sit in the audience and a lab tech peered out at the crowd before nodded, "It's time."

He motioned for Alexander to follow his and Lizzie stopped his quickly.

"Alex?"

"Good luck."

Alex smirked, "Luck has none to do with it little Lizzie" he shot her a smile before walked out the door with the Lab tech, and Lizzie was left to wait behind the door for her turn.

She strained to hear what was happening on the other side while pondering a great many things that plagued her mind.

Was Alexander her friend?

Or was it just an alliance of circumstance?

With no one else around to communicate with could it be that they saw each other and thought 'Eh, this will do I suppose.'

It hardly matters now, she thought, I will go my way, and he his. Perhaps we will meet again somewhere.

She waited silently, growing antsy and restless as time went on until after about fifteen minutes there was a thunderous applause and Alexander was led through the door looking haggard but hopeful.

"Are you okay?" she asked and Alex nodded, "Real horrorshow." He assured her as the lab tach began to lead her out as well.

Lizzie watched the audience as she was placed up the stage, bright lights blinding her.

"Now what you are about to witness Ladies and Gentlemen is a newer part of this treatment." An older gent in a tux stood in front of the stage and addressed them.

"The young lady you see before you is the very first female subject to be cured. Her crimes, while violent were also of a different nature than that which you have seen before."

Lizzie looked out over the audience and felt rather self-conscious all of a sudden, she tried to smile winningly but feared it came across nervous.

"This young woman has used fear and manipulation as tools to get her way in life, tricking those around her with lies and threats for years, a sociopath in every sense of the word! Until she finally committed ultimate crime without remorse, and without guilt. But I stand before you all and say that this lass has been cured off all the evil within her!"

The man waved a hand up at her "As pure as a lamb in Easter morn, and as attuned to the human emotion she once disregarded as any saint! And as agreeable as anyone you'll meet! But do not take my word for it, see for yourselves…"

The man sat down and the lights dimmed slightly as Lizzie swallowed. From the curtains behind her entered a middle aged man in a suit and tie who waltz up center stage.

"Hello there miss." He greeted her and Lizzie smiled politely and nodded.

"Hello" she replied and the man smiled oddly.

"Well don't be so bashful my dear, come now let me see you."

Lizzie swallowed but walked over to him center stage, her arms folded defensively in front of her.

"My, my, my, what a pretty little thing you are."

Lizzie's face burned but she nodded, "Thank you sir."

"Why don't you smile for me sweetheart?"

Lizzie glanced at him and frowned deeply, who was he to tell her to smile?

But eager to be free from this hell, she obeyed and flashed him a pearly grin.

"Such a lovely smile." The man's hand snaked around her waist and Lizzie stumbled forward in surprise when he patted her bum appreciatively.

"I…!" She began to bark but she swallowed it, as if it were a golf ball. "I wish you had not done that sir."

"Done what my dear? You mean this?" He repeated the action and she growled. "Yes, that. It's not…"

"No need to get upset dear" the man laughed jovially and landed a hard smack on her backside that sounded through the room.

"I said stop that!" Lizzie shouted and grabbed his hand, digging her nails into his palm but suddenly she felt the familiar choking sensation wash over her as well as a wall of emotion stopping her dead in her tracks.

"I'm sorry" She said in a hoarse whisper, "I'm dreadfully sorry sir I did not mean to raise my voice." She sputtered as her heart began to clench painfully and the man eyed her.

"It's not very becoming of a lady to shout at someone like that." He reprimanded her but smirked a little. "But I'm sure there's a way I could forgive you."

Lizzie felt her heart racing, "yes sir?"

"On your knees then, beg for my forgiveness." He ordered her and Lizzie stared at him,

"Sir…?"

"You heard me, girl."

Lizzie's face went bright red but she slowly complied, getting on her knees before him but staring at the ground.

"Now beg me."

Lizzie felt as if she would die, either from the breathtaking tremors wrecking her mind and lungs, or from shame.

"I'm deeply sorry for shouting sir, it was not becoming of me. Can you please forgive me?"

The man grinned evilly but nodded, "I suppose. Now get up."

Lizzie did so quickly and the minister dismissed the man as the audience applauded.

Lizzie felt so embarrassed she might have died on the spot.

The next person to join her on stage was a young woman about Lizzie's age, maybe a year or two older.

She wore a nice dress and fine white shoes and walked up to Lizzie with a large smile on her face.

"Hello." The girl smiled at her and Lizzie eyed her with suspicion.

"Hello."

"My, what a lovely dress." The girl marveled then smirked. "Even if it is a bit of a sack."

Lizzie's eyes widened. "Well I…" she prepared herself to tear into the girl but before a mean word could leave her lips her heart began to clench.

"You what? Come on, spit it out then." The girl demanded and Lizzie smiled a strained smile.

"Well I think you look just _lovely"_ She forced out as well as she could.

"Hmmm" The girl circled her, "Never heard of a hair comb then?" she picked at Lizzie's long locks that hung limp down her back.

"Well? Speak up then!"

Lizzie refused to speak a word and the girl's taunts grew extreme.

"Getting mad are we? Are you getting angry with me? Do you want to hit me?"

"No"

"Oh sure you do, go on I'll give you a free shot." The girl offered up her face to Lizzie who wanted nothing more than to strike her to the floor but didn't dare lash out.

"Oh do go on!" the girl laughed. "You've had no problem with it before."

"Please stop it." Lizzie whispered.

"Stop it? Did you ever stop it? Hm?" the girl shoved her and Lizzie stumbled back. "Come on! Yell at me, strike me!"

"I…I don't want to" Lizzie lied, very much wanting to and feeling the wave looming over her like a monster hiding in the closet.

"Maybe we should get you an axe and you'll chop me up with your dear mother!"

The girl laughed and Lizzie's eyes began to water and spill down her cheeks, the wave of pain and every negative emotion she had ever felt overwhelming her and bringing her to tears as she covered her face and doubled over, gasping for breath as her heart clenched painfully, and her throat began to close as if an invisible hand grasped at her neck

"Please stop, please please please stop!" She begged and the minster stood.

"Enough." He dismissed the girl who left after a bow.

The minister walked on stage to Lizzie who straightened up and wiped her eyes as the minister patted her shoulder.

"Wonderful my dear, just wonderful. How are you feeling?"

Lizzie swallowed. "Fine, sir, fine." She lied and smiled tensely.

"Fantastic, you see!" he addressed the audience as the Lab tech brought Alexander back in to the stage, placing him right next to Lizzie.

"This cure is exclusive to none! Man and Woman alike will be treated and cured with this modern miracle! Crime a thing of the past!" the minister smiled

"You see our subjects are impelled towards good by paradoxically being impelled toward evil. The intention to act violently, or morally reprehensible is accompanied by strong feelings of physical and or emotional distress. To counter these, the subjects must to switch to a diametrically opposed attitude. Any questions?"

A man stood up in the front row, a look of anger on his face. "Choice!" he stalked onto the stage.

"These two have no choice, have they? Self-interest, maybe! Fear of pain drove them both to grotesque acts of self-abasement! Its insincerity was clearly to be seen! They cease to be evil-doers also they cease to be creatures capable of moral choice!"

Lizzie nervously wrung her hands, if this man of God somehow convinced them, then all this hell would be for nothing.

"Padre, these are subtleties." The Minister brushed him off.

"We are not concerned with motive, with the higher ethics. We are concerned only with cutting down crime!" He thought then turned to the audience "And with relieving the ghastly congestion in our prisons..."

The minister put himself between Lizzie and Alexander, a hand on their shoulders, "They will be your true Christians! Ready to turn the other cheek. Ready to be crucified rather than crucify, sick to the very heart at the thought even of killing a fly!"

Lizzie eyed Alex, the minister's words gave her no comfort. If anything they filled her with doubt but she forced a winning smile across her face to keep up appearances.

"Reclamation, joy before the angels of God. The point is that it works!"

The crowd erupted with applause.


	8. Lambs among Wolves

_**Just another big thank you to all my readers and reviewers! I hope I continue living up to your expectations! Enjoy!**_

"Well, this is it." Lizzie breathed as the last of the media left the building, "Do you want to share a cab?"

Alex shrugged, "beats goolying back to the flat. Excited to see your dear old dad again, little Lizzie?"

"Excited isn't the word I'd use." Lizzie swallowed, "They sent him a message two weeks ago saying I would be getting out today, but he never replied."

The black London Cab pulled up to the door and Lizzie and Alex slipped in quickly.

"Where to?" The cabbie asked, the stench of cigarette permeating the cab.

Alex gave his address first and as it would turn out Alex and Lizzie's addresses weren't that far apart from each other, just across the bridge.

"Here." Lizzie pulled out a slip of paper she had stashed in her dress as the cabby pulled up the complex. "This is my address and Phone number, give me a call if it ever crosses your mind, huh?"

Alex grinned and ducked down, eye level with her as he stood outside the door. "Until then, Little Lizzie."

He thought of kissing her and Lizzie would be lying if she said the idea hadn't popped into her mind as well, but they mutually decided against it and instead they shook hands respectfully before parting.

Lizzie provided her address to the drive who wasted no time getting on the road, and pulled up to the ancient house slowly.

Lizzie payed for the ride, all that she, and as the cab pulled away she stared up at the house.

It loomed over her like a shadow, and she suddenly felt she was in no hurry to enter.

What if her father wasn't happy to see her?

What if he could never forgive her for what she did?

Lizzie shook her head and swallowed, no time for thoughts like that.

She forced her feet from their spot and strode up to the door eagerly, but as she reached the handle her pace had slowed considerably.

Father never locked the door because he was constantly losing his key, so she was able to push right in and close it behind her.

The house was dead silent, every sound seemed to be magnified by a thousand.

She walked through the hall, her footsteps seeming impossibly loud and looked around. Absolutely nothing had changed, but she hadn't really expected it to.

There was a thick layer of dust across the counters and furniture, and Lizzie frowned. It was unlike father to let such a thing happen.

"Hello?" she called and looked around, but there was no answer. She heard no foot fall, and no movement anywhere.

"Daddy?" She checked the kitchen but found nothing.

In the parlor she found a slip of paper from the Ludovico Institute about her being released and the date. It seemed to be the only evidence that the house was lived in at all and as she passed by the entry way once more she glanced at the door and noticed a pile of envelopes had accumulated under the letter slot in the door.

Could he have left?

Maybe he just needed to get away for a while, to process everything.

Lizzie giggled to picture her father at a day spa or a health farm, learning coping skills and relaxing.

She began to climb the stairs, but she moved slowly.

Something told her that something wasn't right here, it was too quiet, to haunting to be normal.

"Daddy? I'm home!" she called up, waiting to hear some sort of movement upstairs. She expected to see her father peer around the corner and spot her on the stair and greet her.

But there was nothing.

She made her way up the rest of the stairs and stepped into her own bedroom first.

Completely unchanged from what it had been before.

Even her vanity counter was still a mess with scattered make up that she had failed to put away properly.

Lizzie looked in the mirror and smiled slightly.

 _'My, my, my, what a lovely girl we are'_ She thought proudly.

She stopped her search a minute to sit at the vanity and for a moment pretended as if nothing had happened. Her step mother was down stairs in the kitchen and her father was in the parlor reading the paper.

They had just had an argument but he would forgive her soon enough.

Lizzie smirked, caught up in her fantasy, and reached for a dark rose lipstick, stoking the color on her lips delicately before pulling her lips back in a winning smile. She took a jeweled hair pin and twisted her long brown locks around it until it stuck.

 _It won't hurt to make myself presentable for daddy._ She thought with a shrugged.

It had felt like ages since she had properly dolled herself up. She applied rouge lightly to her cheek and frowned at her brows, which had not been properly tended to in over a fortnight.

Surely her father would find it easier to forgive her if she looked like a proper lady instead of a stranger walked in off the streets.

She looked down at her dress and frowned. He won't want to see her in this one she thought and quickly stripped herself of it, crumbling it up and tossing it into a corner.

She would dispose of it later.

Something white. She told herself, that's what a good girl wears isn't it?

She skimmed her closet and chose the only white article she owned, a dress she usually saved for Easter and Weddings.

A simple, solid white, sheath dress.

Plain, wholesome, stainless.

She slipped the dress on and nodded in the mirror.

She glided into the hall again and looked around.

"Is anyone home?" she called, and spotted the door to her father's room ajar.

She made for the room with a sigh, it was the only other place he could be.

She paused before the door and took a deep breath, preparing herself for what lay behind the door before pushing it open suddenly.

Lizzie froze.

Her breath caught in her throat and she clutched the wooden door frame as she leaned back. Her entire body when cold to the core, as if hit by a winter wind.

The only sound she made was a strangled gasp as her knees when weak and she half collapsed to the wood floor.

Mr. Borden had not left the house in four weeks, but judging by the smell he had only been alive for two of them.

No one had bothered to investigate in to his sudden seclusion.

A dead wife, and a pitiless murderer for a daughter, it was no wonder the man was withdrawn.

The ceiling fan was exceptionally sturdy from the day it had been installed, with no cracks around the plaster and no swinging or wobbling when it was turned on.

The contractor had commented on this when he installed it, proudly stating, "That thing could hold a ten ton elephant and still stay up there"

The rope was a cheap cotton one, the soft kind used to hang laundry out to dry, not the heavy duty rough fiber ones that would have made the experience even more uncomfortable than it needed to be.

He had drank three glasses of the quality, aged scotch he kept in his study. He had smoked a thick cigar he kept in the polished wood box on the hearth in the living room.

And when he was done, he was done.

He left no note behind.

Lizzie stared at the hanged man and slowly took a step back.

Without a word she stood up and turned, and walked down the stairs.

She opened the front door calmly and closed it behind her with stiff arms.

To the outside world it would be impossible to know what was going on in her brain.

She walked down the street robotically, her entire body worked on autopilot as her mind had checked out for a moment.

By the time her mind returned from its vacation she found herself by the river, on the edge of that unspoken border between the "good" part of town and the "bad" part of town which lay just on the other side of the bridge, the world of factory workers and hole in the wall housing units.

She stopped walking and moved to the side of the white pavement path, slowly stumbling to the edge of the bridge and putting her hands to the cold metal railing.

Below her the water was greyish blue and rippled with small waves.

She watched it with dull, hypnotized eyes, and wondered for a moment what would happen if she simple slung her legs over the metal barrier and jumped in.

Would anyone bother to save her, or even try?

Would it hurt? To sink down to the sandy bottom of the river and not come back up?

 _How fitting_ she thought suddenly, _to die wearing white._

She felt in her hair and pulled out the jeweled hair pin, shaking her locks out until they fell full length down her back. Her body suddenly register the chill in the air and the cloud of steam that escaped her lips with every heavy breath and goosebumps ran up and down her body.

She found herself for the first time considering if there was really a God, or a Heaven, and if so where would she go?

To think herself heavenly material would be the acme of foolishness, she understood.

But just maybe…

"Miss?"

Lizzie froze.

"Miss are you alright?"

She turned slowly and found a young man behind her, maybe a year or two younger than herself. He had dark shaggy hair and a thin boyish face and a look of concern in his eye as he watched the young woman grip the railing with fingers that were slowly turning red from cold.

"I…" she paused and swallowed, "I'm fine. Thank you."

The young man eyed her cautiously but nodded, "Alright, you have a good day miss."

"Same to you." Lizzie nodded and the man continued on his way, unaware that he had just stopped her from possibly ending her own life.

She looked around, now once more rational and collected. She twisted her hair back up and stabbed the pin through before thinking.

Where to go from here, she wondered. What would this world hold in store for her now?

She sighed and leaned on the railing, all thoughts of suicide erased from her mind as she thought on what to do. She looked across the river and paused before leaning forward and squinting.

Could it be?

There was a horde of mad tramps attacking some man, but what tipped her off was the bright yellow dot that man clutched onto.

"Alexander?" She whispered and jogged across the bridge, picking up speed half way as her thought was confirmed.

As soon as she made it across the bridge the mob dispersed thanks to two police officers who arrived on the scene.

Lizzie darted between the dirty bums and behind Alexander who was on his knees but stopped a few yards away when it seemed the scene was too good to be true.

"Alexander?" she came from behind him and put her hand on his shoulder making Alex jerked in surprise and look up at her.

For a moment, as he looked up at her, she seemed like his guardian angel come to save him from the vengeance of his former droogs.

Until he remembered that she was in the same boat as him, and couldn't do a thing against them.

"Lizzie, run." He pulled himself up and began to back away slowly as Dim and George advanced at a leisurely pace.

"What?" Lizzie whispered as a chill ran up her spine.

"Don't govereet, just do as I skazat, run. Now."

Lizzie was too afraid to disobey and quickly darted in the opposite direction but George snatched her arm with a laugh.

"No, no, no Little Alex. I'm afraid your pititsa will have to itty along with us."

Alex, though more terrified now than he had ever been, still felt the indignation flair within him at the defiance of his former droog.

"She hasn't got anything to do with this" the man protested and George smirked.

"She has now"

"Look" Lizzie tried to be the voice of reason, "I don't know you, but I'm sure whatever Alex has done you can find it in you to forgive and…"

George growled and jerked her forward.

"You'd do well to keep your malenky rot shut about cal you don't know about." He growled and Lizzie whimpered, too afraid of both him and the so called "cure" to do anything.

"Now, we're going to go for a malenky ride with our old droogie here." He motioned to Alex who was begin held firmly by Dim. "And you're going to itty along, real quiet and calm. And you're not going to creech or horn one bit, pony?"

Lizzie glanced at Alex with a scared, questioning glance and George growled and grabbed her face and Lizzie nodded quickly

"Good, real horrorshow. Come on then."


	9. Desperation in Action

_**Thanks to all the readers and reviewers again! I'm going to try and finish this story up before school starts and I run out of time, so I'll try to update daily :)**_

Alexander was made to sit between George and Dim in the back seat of the police licensed SUV, while Lizzie was cuffed in the back behind them and made to lay down on the hard floor panel so as not to be seen.

They drove out of the city and into the countryside, or so Lizzie assumed as she saw the tops of trees glint past them through the sliver of window she was able to see through.

It was clear talking would be of no particular use in this situation and unfortunately talking was all Alex and Lizzie had at this point so they were defenseless to the will of their captors.

They soon pulled off to the side of the road in front of a nature trail that led deep into the woods and George and Dim hauled Alex out like he was nothing while Alex gagged and sputtered.

"Now we're going to have a little reunion with our old droogie here." George peered back at Lizzie, "But not to worry, we'll itty back soon enough." He laughed and slammed the door shut and Lizzie struggled up and watched out the window as they dragged Alexander down the dirt path.

The driver of the Landrover seemed indifferent to her distress, and she didn't bother pleading with him as he would not listen to her anyway.

She had to get out of the car, but how?

The trunk door was locked, she was handcuffed, and she had no way of escape.

She sighed and leaned back on the floor, wincing a bit as something poked her scalp.

Wait.

She sat back up and reached up to the back of her head. Her hair pin was still holding her hair up, perfect.

She glanced at the man in the front before laying back down and working the thin metal rod out of her hair and examined it.

The pointed end made it the perfect lock pick, or at least as good a lock pick as she was going to get.

Fumbling with the pin she managed to angle it so that the end was in the key hole and jiggled it about vainly.

 _Come on, Come on._ She thought in frustration and practically stabbed the pin in and jerked up, making the lock pop instantly from the stress.

 _Perfect_

She sat back up and eyed the man in the front, pondering what to do next.

She peered under the seat and to her surprise and delight she found an animal control pole, which had become standard issue for police officers due to the increase of feral dogs running around the city which were known to be violent toward people, especially in the poorer parts of London. It was also used in cases of dog fighting, should the animals prove dangerous.

But what use was a weapon to her if the very idea of violence made her heart clench painfully?

However, if she didn't do something Alex would most likely be killed out there, and then what would happen to her?

Those policemen had to come back some time, didn't they?

She swallowed and gripped the pole with white knuckles, _treatment be damned I won't let these spineless cowards scare me._

Slowly she reached the long metal pole forward until the wire loops hovered just over the driver's head.

"Hey!" She called and the man turned to look at her with annoyed eyes until the loop hooked over his head and around his throat suddenly.

Lizzie jerked back on the pole, tightening the loop and cutting off his air quickly.

Her heart tightened without a hitch and her throat began to spasm making her gasp for air as the too familiar wave of negativity crashed over her like someone had dropped a bomb.

But this only made her pull harder on the pole as the pain spread through her chest and up her neck. Every instinct she had told her to stop this madness or she would surely die, but that little voice in her head told her that if she didn't get herself out of here she would wish she was dead.

It didn't take much longer for the driver to blackout, slumped over on the wheel and Lizzie finally released the pole, gasping and swallowing deep gulps of air desperately.

It was the worst pain she had ever experienced her in life, it was as if someone had set her bones aflame.

A hand grenade was where her heart ought to be and boiling oil had replaced the blood flowing through her veins.

She could not see for the lights and flashes that danced before her eyes, nor could she hear for the deafening, high pitched whine that filled her ears and muffled everything around her.

Tears had soaked her cheeks and her face was red and puffy, but she forced herself up into the front seat and unlocked the car doors.

As her feet hit the ground her knees buckled under her and she collapsed a moment, the dirt and grass rubbing off on her white dress and staining it as she drew in a few heaving breaths, trying not to pass out, and darted for the woods and down the trail.

As she moved the pain began to wear off and she stayed a good bit away from the main path, as she knew the police officers would be back soon and should she encounter them it would be all over for her.

Briar bushes and tree limbs doled out punishment to Lizzie's bare skin and white dress but she pushed through the wooded area until she heard laughing a few yards ahead of her.

Darting behind a large tree she pressed herself against the rough bark as George and Dim sauntered past, laughing cheerfully as if they had heard a wonderful joke.

"You think he'll live?" Dim asked curiously and George shrugged.

"Who gives a damn, grazney bratchney deserved what he got and more." George brushed him off and sighed.

"What are we gonna do with the devotchka in the auto, she'll talk you know."

"Well then, we'll just have to make sure she _doesn't talk,_ won't we?"

They laughed once again and Lizzie felt the a chill down her spine as she stood still as a statue until they had passed her by and were a good ways down the path before running faster than she ever thought she could.

Breaking off from the woods she ran the rest of the way down the path and spotted Alex slumped over on the ground by a wooden water trough.

He wasn't moving.

Lizzie dashed across the clearing and stumbled down to his level.

"Alex?" She brushed the drenched hair away from his face and found him cold to the touch she swallowed as her throat suddenly went dry.

"Alexander?" she repeated and placed her hands on his shoulders and shaking him roughly. "Alexander!"

Alex slumped over, she felt for a pulse and found none and panic began to set in.

He couldn't be dead, he just couldn't.

She wouldn't allow it.

"Oh come on, wake up, wake up!" she laid him on his back and brushed the hair from his face and blinked.

"Okay, okay, you can do this. You can do this, it's simple…God I hope I remember how to do this." She instructed herself as she tilted his limp head back and opened his mouth slightly.

She felt his chest and pressed her palms firmly on his sternum, "Alexander if you die I'll never forgive you. Come on." She informed him as she thrusted her hands down into his chest quickly, counting precisely until she got to thirty and then sealed her lips over his cold ones and breathed into him forcefully.

After three breaths she pulled away and felt for a pulse.

Nothing.

"Fuck, you're bloody well not going to die on me Alexander DeLarge!" She hissed and repeated the actions, putting more force behind the blows. "Come on! I know you can hear me, you selfish bastard! I know you can!"

She pressed on as her desperation grew.

Alexander was the only person left in the world she even remotely cared about, and he wasn't dying on her watch.

He was deathly pale, his lips blue and cold, so unlike the young man she had come to know and respect.

"Come on!" She barked after blowing into his lungs again and checking for a pulse.

"Come on you sodding Bastard! Breath dammit!" She pounded on his chest once more and Alex's chest expanded with a rattling gasp and he twisted on to his side, coughing up water that had flooded his lungs.

"Oh god." Lizzie went limp from relief and sat back on her heels, "Oh thank god."

Alex finished coughing up water from his burning lungs and clutched at his chest, which was surely bruised to hell judging by how sore it was.

"Liz-Lizzie?" He heaved and Lizzie pulled him up and leaned him on the trough.

"Relax, just relax." She instructed him and Alex swallowed and looked down.

"Who's been dancin' on me chest?" he asked, half joking.

"Me."

Alex sighed and closed his eyes, his breath finally evening out. Suddenly he frowned and turned his head toward Lizzie who sat beside him.

"Did you call me a selfish bastard?"

"Probably" Lizzie nodded and leaned back on the trough.

Alex nodded and turned, staring out into the wilderness, shivering.

How could this have happened?

How could the mighty have fallen so low?

"How did you get away?" he asked and Lizzie sighed.

"I choked out the driver and unlocked the doors." She admitted and Alex looked at her in shock.

How was she not dead? Or at the very least a sobbing, writhing mess?

"How?"

Lizzie swallowed, "I thought about what would happen if you died, how they would come back for me." She sighed and stared up at the sky which was beginning to cloud over, "How even if they didn't kill me than it wouldn't matter because I would have lost the last person who means anything to me."

Alex stared at her, "that's not true, there's your dear old P."

"He's dead" She stated bluntly, "it must have happened soon after he found out when I would be released." She smirked bitterly. "I guess the thought of seeing the daughter who killed his wife was too much for him."

Alex frowned, spying the hard sadness in her eyes and her voice.

"So you're saying there's nobody?"

Lizzie thought about the life she had possessed, her network of contacts who would assist her out of fear, self-interest, or under the guise of a false friendship she had tricked them into.

"I'm saying…" she glanced at him, "there's a lot of nobodies. You're the only somebody I know."

Alex looked away from her and up at the sky, it was growing an ominous grey now.

"So, who were they?" Lizzie asked and Alex swallowed.

"My old droogs, dva of them that is. Georgie Boy and Dim."

"Dim? Did his mother give him that name?" Lizzie couldn't help but josh and Alex smirked a tiny bit.

"It was more of a warning label than an eemya I suppose. Come to messel, I don't suppose I recall his real name. We'd just call him that for so long."

Lizzie snickered but stopped when Alex's face fell into a pensive, dare she say, sad look.

"Alex?"

"The whole wide world up and changed in a big, bolshy hurry while I was away. Up is down, nochy is morn, droogies are millicents…" He stared blankly out in front of him. "Nothing is the way it ought to be anymore"

"Oh." Was all she could say. "I suppose it did. I'm sorry, surely you can go back to your parents I mean…" she cut off when she saw Alex's face.

"No?"

"Afraid not, Em and P have replaced their only son I'm afraid."

"Oh… Alex I'm sorry"

"Don't be." He closed his eyes.

Lizzie bit her lip and sighed. "Well, you don't need them." She insisted, "And, I don't need my father either. I mean we're both smart aren't we? I'm sure we could…"

Alex eyed her in such a way that made her trail off.

For once she was left to be the hopeful one, the one to offer encouragement in times of strife. And it was a lot harder than she thought.

She hated seeing Alexander so down, so utterly lost looking.

A king would a crown or country, a God without a religion. He didn't seem to know what to do with himself.

"Sorry." She muttered, "I guess I'm not as good at being optimistic as you are."

Alex sighed and smiled a little, grateful for the attempt.

"Maybe such veshchs are best ookadeeted to those of us with a sense of good humor."

Lizzie smirked, "maybe." She snickered and sighed. "It's going to rain, and if we don't find some place to get help soon you're going to catch your death of cold."

She slowly stood and pulled Alex up as well.

"I'm sure if we walk enough we'll find a place with a telephone."

Alex agreed and they made back for the main road carefully.


	10. Home Sweet Home?

_**A giant thanks to Miss Femm for her amazing review and to all my readers, I hope you enjoy!**_

It soon began to pour down freezing sheets of rain, drenching both Alex and Lizzie to the bone.

Alex began to cough and tremble from cold and Lizzie felt his neck and head as if he were a child.

"You're burning up" she muttered with a sigh, looking around in the dark.

They had been walking for miles and hadn't come across a single house, or even a car to hitch a ride in.

"I'll be fine." He shivered and pointed up ahead. "I think I viddy a light up there."

Lizzie squinted in the rain and frowned, "Headlights?"

"Doesn't smot it, more like a street lamp" Alex coughed again, "maybe there's a malenky hamlet up ahead."

Lizzie nodded, "only one way to find out, just a bit further."

They trudged on, Alex's injuries from the beating and drowning slowing him down to a limp.

As they approached the light they found it neither a set of head lights nor a street lamp, instead a brightly glowing sign with the word HOME emblazoning the night.

"It's a path" Lizzie breathed a sigh of the relief, finally someone who could help them. "There must be house just at the end."

The rain grew stronger than before, the force of it nearly knocking them over as they stumbled through what seemed to be some sort of garden that had begun to flood from the excessive precipitation.

As they struggled over stepping stones Alex miss-stepped and stumbled to the ground face first. Lizzie pulled him up, grunting and fighting to support his weight as she half dragged him the rest of the way to the door.

"Hello!" she yelled over the loud rainfall on the roof and rang the doorbell repeatedly as she banged her fist on the door.

"Hello?! Can't someone help us?" she yelled and rang the bell again.

Alex floundered between alert and fog, blinking quickly as his brain cleared up once more.

"Hello?! Is anyone Home?"

As soon as she called again the door opened to reveal a large muscle man in pink workout gear.

"Help" was all Lizzie managed to get out before Alex completely collapsed against her and pushed her down with him.

The large Adonis quickly pulled them both in and looked down at them in concern.

"Thank you." Lizzie breathed and pulled herself up, slinging Alex's arm over her shoulder and half dragging him up. "We need help, we were attacked."

The man nodded and to Lizzie's surprise lifted Alex as if he were a rag doll. "Come with me." He instructed her and Lizzie followed him down the hall and down a flight of wide wooden stairs.

At the bottom of the stairs sat a man in a wheel chair wearing a bright orange robe that only made his white hair and skin seem flushed.

"Frank" The large man called, "I think these two are in need of some help."

Lizzie nodded and the crippled man stared at them in horror. "My Lord, what's happened to you two?"

Lizzie jumped at the chance to explain their situation to a sympathetic ear who might offer some help or at least comfort.

Alexander was now wide awake once more and swallowed, still shivering.

"The police, the ghastly, horrible police…" he trembled and Lizzie nodded in confirmation.

"We were attacked by two policemen, and they brought us out to the woods. They nearly killed Alex, and I just got away before they could come back for me." Lizzie rushed it all out and it was a miracle any of it could be deciphered but judging how the man's face fell he understood perfectly.

"You poor things, however did…." He trailed off as he stared at them, his eyes darting from face to face rapidly and his featured contorted slightly.

"Wait! I know you! I know you both!" He declared.

Lizzie's mouth went dry, afraid he would toss them out as criminals to the mercy of the elements.

"Aren't you the ones in the papers? Are you not the poor victims of that horrible new treatment?!"

Lizzie almost went limp from relief, "Yes! Yes sir, yes we are!"

"Then, by God, you have been sent here by providence!" Frank exclaimed, grinning madly with exhilaration, as if God himself had placed a miracle on his door step.

"Both of you, Tortured by that revolting so called cure, then thrown out on the streets to be tortured by the police!"

Lizzie began to smile hopefully, at last they had found a friend in this world.

Someone to offer them help in this their darkest hour.

"My heart goes out to you, poor, poor children." He nodded "Oh, you are not the first to come here in distress. The Police are fond of bringing their victims to the outskirts of this village. But it is providential that you two…"

He pointed at them both with a trembling, bony finger, "who are also another kind of victim, should come here!"

The man had begun to breathe heavily during his speech, but realization dawned on him quickly as his eyes grew soft with pity for them

"Oh, but you're both cold and shivering. Julian, draw a bath for these two young people, before they catch something."

"Certainly Frank" Julian nodded and Lizzie smiled.

"Thank you sir, we simply cannot tell you how much is means to us to find someone who is willing to help us." She thanked him vehemently. "I wonder if we might trouble you for any medicine however, Alexander already has a fever and I'm afraid it will only get worse."

"Not a problem at all my dear girl!" Frank assured her, "No harm will befall you here, believe you me."

He eyed her, "why, you're covered in blood." He pointed out and Lizzie looked down.

In addition to being stained with mud, rain, grass, and all together filth. The once spotless white dress was also tainted with the muddled red of spilled blood on the sides and her shoulder. The evidence of the many scrapes and scratched she sustained on their journey through the woods and down the road.

"Oh, Not to worry. It's nothing serious" she assured him but he frowned, "all the same you must get warm, and let it dry. Before you to fall ill"

Lizzie knelt down and smiled at him gratefully. "We cannot thank you enough sir."

"Call me Frank."

"Yes sir, I mean Frank." She corrected herself and the man smiled at her in an unsettling manner.

"No worries my dear girl, now follow Julian and he will tend to you and your friend."

She nodded and thanked him once more before going to find the large muscle man who stepped out of a bathroom and closed the door.

"Hello?" she greeted him uncertainly. "You must be Julian?"

He nodded and offered her his hand, "I am."

"Lizzie, Borden." She shook his hand, "Thank you so much for your help, I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't let us in."

Julian shrugged modestly, "I couldn't very well leave you out there to freeze"

"All the same, thank you."

"You're welcome, now follow me. The second bathroom is this way." He beckoned her to follow as he strode down the hall.

He left her in a small water closet with simple instructions,

"Right is hot, Left is cold, Towels in that cupboard."

Lizzie thanked him and sighed after he left. Quickly turning the right knob almost as far as it would go she sat on the tile floor, the coldness chilling her skin.

She stripped the sullied dress off her body and carefully folded it into a neat square, along with her under garments before retrieving a towel from the cupboard under the sink.

It seemed their luck was turning around, but even if they had earned a brief reprieve from these hellish events, this was just a pit stop.

What would become of them after this?

Neither had any money, nor support system, or even friends other than each other.

Lizzie at least had a quality education, but Alex was practically a drop out.

And with this blasted treatment still underway, they were practically as incapacitated as that man in the wheel chair.

No free will, no way to defend their selves.

Lizzie didn't think it would have been the _best_ idea to jump off that bridge, but at this point, it didn't seem like the _worst_ idea either.

As she turned the water off, she hissed and slipped into the scalding water, welcoming the burning sensation.

Soon the sting wore off and she relaxed in the water fully, taking the time to let her mind go completely blank.

There was no treatment.

No dead parents.

No Police.

Hell, there wasn't even Alexander.

There was just Lizzie and the water, and a blank void where her thoughts would usually be.

Oh to live in this state of being, to be utterly empty between her ears.

Perhaps ignorance really was bliss.

However a distant melody drew her out of her stupor, echoing faintly through the walls.

"I'm _siiinging_ in the rain, Just _siiinging_ in the rain. What a glorious feeling, I'm hap-hap-happy again."

She smiled a tiny bit.

Alexander was back to his theatrical self.

"I'm _laaaughing_ at the clouds, so _daaark_ up above. There's a song in my heart! And I'm ready for love!"

 _What a ham_ Lizzie thought with a small shake of her head.

Alexander was like a punching bag, no matter how hard you hit him he seemed to bounce right back at least for a moment or two. But it was a great relief to hear him so lighthearted.

Listening to Alexander sing, she sighed and stretched every muscle with a groan.

A knock came from the other side of the door, "Miss. Borden, Frank would like to see you in the parlor when you're finished." Julian called and Lizzie nodded, all though he could not see it.

"Of course, I'll be right there." She informed him and pulled herself out of the tub.

Drying off quickly and redressing in the now, semi-damp dress she unplugged the tub, exited the bathroom and made for the parlor where Frank was sitting at his writing desk, a twisted look on his face.

"Miss. Borden, I hope you are feeling well."

"Oh much better sir," she assured him. "Thank you very much sir."

He smiled a little bit but it didn't look right on him.

"You do look a bit sickly my dear." He informed her as Julian came from behind her, "Perhaps you had better go lay down, and rest."

Lizzie smiled a little. "I thank you for your concern, but I feel just fine."

Julian frowned and pressed the back of his muscular hand to her forehead, "Frank is right, you do have a bit of a fever. You ought to rest before it gets any worse."

Lizzie shuffled, not wanting to offend their saviors. "Well, if you really think…"

"Oh yes, yes my dear. You may rest in the guest room. Julian will show you the way and I will make you a strong cup of tea to stave off the cold."

Lizzie felt a strange sense of darkness surround them but so desperate was she to stay on the man's good side she agreed and followed Julian to a small guest bedroom with a small single bed and dresser in it.

"Thank you" she nodded and Julian closed the door, but returned soon with a steaming cup of tea.

"This will keep you warm." He handed her the cup and waited, eyeing her expectantly. Lizzie realized he wasn't going to leave until she drank the beverage and quickly finished off the drink to get him to leave.

Julian took the cup and left, and as the door closed Lizzie could have sworn she heard a click of a lock.

Sitting on the bed she listened for Alex's singing, which was still going on faintly. But being closer to the bathroom she could hear him more clearly and laid back on the bed, listening.

She soon felt suddenly very tired, and she labeled it a delayed stress reaction. Perhaps it would help to get some sleep.

She slipped between the duvet and the sheets and quickly feel into a deep, deep sleep, content to work out all of her problems when she was mentally prepared to face such a difficult task, unaware of the eyes watching her from the key hole.

"Nail it shut." Frank instructed Julian firmly, a mad glint in his eye.

Julian nodded and went to fetch a hammer and nails as Frank rolled down the hall clutching a bulky, glass pill bottle with the words **Mandrax (Methaqualone)** printed across a paper label.


	11. A Mental Odyssey

Lizzie gazed up a dark staircase, her hand gripping the banister loosely until her fingers barely grazed the polished wood railing.

The area was completely silent, the kind of quiet that after a few minutes your mind starts to simulate a high pitched whine in your ears. Even her foot fall as she climbed up the staircase was without sound.

Her body felt heavy, as if she were weighted down by chains, or as if she were walking through a deep stream against the current.

As she reached the top of the stairs she glanced around and her eyes were guided by some sort of instinct to the bottom of a white wood door, where she could spy a bright strip of light beaming from the other side.

She slowly reached for the metal knob and found it warm to the touch as she turned it, pushing the portal open and stepping through.

As soon as she entered she was blinded by a bright white light and covered her eyes until the glow faded and she blinked quickly.

She stood in the middle of the parlor of her father's home, on the outskirts of a group of young adults who had gathered around the hearth, drinking from long neck glass bottles and laughing as a pretty young brunette with her short hair in bouncy ringlets told a tale.

"So anyway, we're standing in this hotel room and all of a sudden he just _whips it out_! Right _there!_ "

The group laughed merrily as Lizzie scanned them, they were familiar to her.

A group of young people she might have called friends, but were more like stand ins for the friends she would have liked to have.

They were little more than mannequins, and for a moment she recalled feeling like a little girl sitting around a tea table with her toys reclining in the chairs as her pretend guests.

Lizzie's heart nearly stopped when she spotted herself in the corner of the group, a bottle clutched casually in her grasp as she listened to the story with little interest.

"And I said, and just what do you intend to do with _that,_ monsieur?" the brunette laughed with the group and the Lizzie in the corner, without breaking pace piped up in a cool tone.

"I could have told him _exactly_ what to do with it."

The laughing girl stopped and eyed Lizzie, who wasn't usually one to interject herself in to conversation, with a questioning and expectant look.

"Oh? And what's that darling?" she asked and Lizzie smirked a little before taking a sip of her drink.

"Put it back in his trousers where it belongs."

The curly hair brunette chuckled a little tensely, "and that, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call a _prude_." She motioned to Lizzie whose face didn't change in the slightest.

"Better than a whore."

The group quieted down a little bit and a sense of discomfort fell over them.

"So uh…" A young man with shaggy blackish hair tried to ease the tension, "Lizzie, how's your old man doing? I heard he closed another great deal with that steel plant across the bridge…"

"Don't waste your breath Jean." Lizzie sighed, "You and I both know the only reason you're here is because you're eyeing the internship at the plant and you know my father has some pull in the situation"

She stated this so matter-a-factually, as if she were reading a new paper column or a text book.

The discomfort only intensified and the remaining boy and girl eyed each other and the clock.

"Wow, would you look at the time. We had better get going."

They stood as did the girl with the ringlets, "yeah, and I rode here with them so…"

They cleared out with brief goodbyes and the Jean glanced at his watch, "well, it is pretty late. Maybe I should get going to. Have a nice night, I'll see you in class tomorrow."

He stood and kissed her chastely on the forehead, "Night love" he bade her goodbye one last time and left her alone in the house.

Lizzie stood and made for the kitchen, and the watcher who had witnessed the event with confusion and awe followed her through the door only to be blinded once again by another flash of light.

When she regained her sight she was in her bedroom, sitting before her vanity applying her makeup.

"I've laid out a dress for you for church Lizzie" an older man behind her informed her.

"Yes Daddy."

"The congregation will be very pleased to have you back Lizzie. We prayed the treatment would set you straight. I'm so glad it has."

He placed a hand on her shoulder but Lizzie stared straight ahead, her eyed blank and clear like the lifeless glass eyes of a china doll.

"I'll leave you alone to get dressed dear." He kissed the top of her head and left her alone in the room.

Lizzie looked around and stood.

There was an unending feeling of emptiness inside her, as if there was a gaping void where her organs were supposed to be.

She felt as if her body was not her own, instead it was a vehicle and she was just a passenger.

Nothing seemed real, nothing looked right.

Everything was plastic, she was living in a doll house.

She walked over to the window and opened it, finding a balcony that over looked the river, barges and ships sailed slowly to and fro over the waves and Lizzie stared out at them.

She looked down at the water and wondered if it felt as real as it looked, if she jumped in would she feel the cold rush and the adrenaline pump through her veins?

Without a thought she slung her legs over the railing of the balcony and watched the grey waves blow over the water before swallowing and pushing off the edge, falling down into the grey water but before she could feel the cold sensation of water rushing past her she was blinded once again by the white light.

This time when she looked around she was back at the Ludovico Institute, but in a room she had never been in before.

She was strapped onto an inclined hospital bed dressed in a white hospital gown. Dozens of wires ran up her arms and torso and attacked to electrodes on her forehead like a bizarre crown.

"We're just going to show you a few films, Lizzie" a mysterious voice echoed from some unseen presence.

On the blank wall before her a film reel began to play, the same violent images that were shown to her in the hellish theatre.

But she felt no pain, emotional or physical.

No wave of guilt or sadness crashed over her like a terrible tsunami.

Her throat did not close and her heart did not clench.

Instead she felt, not quite indifference, but more like contentment.

She was at peace.

The blood held no horror for her, the raised voices and the violence no discomfort.

"Lizzie?" She turned her head and found a beautiful woman standing beside her.

She was in a new room, a small white room with two chairs.

Lizzie wet her lips and blinked, "Mum?"

"How are you feeling baby?"

Lizzie blinked, "I don't know. Mum, aren't you…"

"Dead? Yes. But that doesn't matter anymore sweetheart. I just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Lizzie thought in confusion. "For what?"

Her mother frowned, "you don't remember, you were so young. And sweetheart, I was so sick."

"What do you mean?" Lizzie sat down as did her mother.

"You know sweetheart, it's still there in your mind. Just think about it, try to remember."

Lizzie closed her eyed and she flashed back to that night all those years ago.

She was eight years old again, and her mother was driving the car down a country road.

She had been drinking, heavily, and Lizzie had fallen asleep in the back, slumped over.

Suddenly Mrs. Borden pulled over and looked back at her sleeping child, who in the glow of the passing headlights looked like a little cherub; round, soft cheeks, long lashes and silken hair that fell like a curtain.

"Lizzie? Lizzie sweetheart." She whispered and brushed her girl's face.

"Mummy?" she whispered in a sleepy voice and the mother smile a half coherent smile.

"Lizzie sweetheart, did you remember to say your prayers before going to sleep?"

"No mummy."

"That's alright honey, let's say them now."

"Okay" the little girl allowed her mother to take her small hands and clasp them in hers.

"Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep." They spoke in unison, "If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. God bless mummy, and Daddy…" Lizzie trailed off, more asleep than awake and her mother stroked her cheek with her thumb, a large wet tear rolling down her face.

"…And God bless Little Lizzie." She whispered and kissed her daughter's forehead before sitting back in the driver's seat and starting the car again.

She pulled back onto the road and drove faster than legal down the dark country paths until she got into the city and drove to the bridge that reached over the river.

She looked back at her drowsy daughter one last time with tears in her eyes, "I love you Elizabeth." She whispered and hit the gas, her eyes filled with determination as she drove the car full speed over the edge of the bridge, ignoring the blare of the horns of the other cars.

With a sudden jerk Lizzie shot up in a cold sweat.

Where was she?

She looked around, she was in a bed, in a room.

It was now light outside, and the rain had stopped.

Her head was pounding and her vison was blurry, and she swallowed on a dry throat.

Her body was shaking and she took several deep breaths and looked around.

How long had she been asleep?

What the hell had been in that _tea_?!

She stood up on unsteady feet and made for the door, gripping the handle but finding it would not turn.

"What the…?" she put all her weight on the door and tried to push it open but it simply would not open.

"Uh hello?" she called and knocked on the door, "Hello? I… I think the door is stuck?"

She glanced at the seam of the door and her eyed widened as she allowed her fingers to graze over the small slivers of metal she could spot.

The door was nailed shut.

"Oh Shit" she cursed and pounded on the door, "Hello?" she called, "Hello!" She sighed and looked around.

Suddenly from below her she heard a melody that soon became louder and louder until it practically vibrated the floor boards.

"What in the name of God?"

It was a classical symphony, but she couldn't place it. Nor did she understand why it was being played so loudly.

Unless…

She recalled that Alexander had become repelled by Beethoven's ninth.

And it was clear that the young man had, in his life, made many, many, _many,_ enemies.

"God damn it Alexander, if this has something to do with you I'm going to kill you." She muttered, not really meaning it as she made for the window to check how high up she was.

Too far to safely jump, but there was a drainpipe that she could climb up and down if she managed to reach it.

She thought it over, figuring whoever was playing the music for some reason didn't want her to leave the room, and for Lizzie that was reason enough to want to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"I must be out of my mind." She shook her head and opened the window. She sat on the window sill and slid across to until she was as near as she could get to the drain pipe.

"OoOoH" she moaned, "I'm insane, I'm insane, I'm insane." She swallowed and reached for the pipe, grasping it firmly as she clenched her eyes shut and pushed off, yelping as she swung slightly like a pendulum until she secured her ankles around the drain pipe.

"Okay, okay, just easy down." She began her descent carefully, gripping the pipe like it was life itself.

But as soon as she was close enough to the ground she heard something that made her climb right back up again.

A familiar voice screaming and yelling in a room on the top floor.

A sound of utter anguish and desperation that was chilling to hear, even for the stoniest of hearts.

She growled and began to climb up the drain pipe again, silently cursing everything about the situation.

Frank, Julian, Alexander, Herself, and the bloody drain pipe.

"You just had to sign up for that damned treatment, didn't you, you stupid _stupid_ girl." She growled as she approached midway and suddenly the window to the top room was flung open.

She looked up and saw Alex's head peer out over her.

"Alexander! What are you…?"

He didn't seem to hear her, or he didn't care as his next action made Lizzie's heart stop and her grip slip.

Lizzie's lips spread into a silent scream as she watched her friend tumble from a three story window and to the cobblestone ground with a wail of some indescribable passion…


	12. And The it Hit Her

_**Another big thanks to all my readers and my reviewers! Hope you enjoy!**_

The next few moments were a blur for the rest of her life, but if asked Lizzie would explain it as so…

Her sudden loss of grip sent her falling back down the wall until she scrambled to grab hold of the drainpipe once more and shimmied her way down to the ground.

Her breathing was ragged as she stumbled over to the crumpled body of the young man and scrambled to feel for a pulse.

There was a small, weak flicker under her fingers but it was fading fast and Lizzie began to panic.

What was she going to do?

Frank and Julian were the only other people in the house so they must have been behind this, She knew Alexander was far too fond of himself to throw himself out a window willingly, but why?

There wasn't time to ponder the reasoning behind it, she had to call an ambulance or get someone to help them.

Maybe if she could get someone driving by to notice her.

The road was just down the drive, and it was mid-morning so there must be at least a few vehicles on the roads by now. But she didn't know if she should leave Alexander alone in this state.

What if he bled out?

What if he snapped his back and was paralyzed?

She growled and knelt down by Alex's face, "Alexander? Can you hear me?"

There was a faint, pained groan in reply.

"Alex I'm going to go get some help, but for now you have to stay awake, understand me? Whatever you do, do _not go to sleep_!"

There was another groan and she nodded, "I'll be back. Just hang on."

She first ran for the house, if she could get past Julian she wouldn't have to worry about the wheelchair bound Frank, and if she could find a phone she could call the police and an ambulance.

She forced her way into the house and ran for the parlor, no phone there. She next darted into the kitchen but found no telephone to speak of.

There must be one somewhere. She thought as she slipped into the next room but found it occupied, not only by a deafeningly loud sound system blaring Beethoven, but also by Frank, Julian and two people she had never seen.

The strange woman noticed her immediately and pointed her out to the rest of the room. "Frank, you're other guest is awake."

The man wheeled around and stared at Lizzie with mad eyes fit for a complete lunatic.

"Miss. Borden, how good of you to join us." He said kindly but Lizzie's hair was raised.

"What's going on here?" she demanded with fire and Julian began to step forward.

"Just a gathering of friends my dear girl" Frank grinned, "a sort of celebration if you will."

"Celebra…" Lizzie gaped. "Celebrating what?"

"The death of a killer my dear, a marvelous distribution of justice! However belated." Frank cheered and Lizzie gawked.

"You're insane." She began to back out of the room, "you're all absolutely mad." She ran out but no one followed her, or tried to stop her.

She panted as she ran and the only sound she heard was her blood pounding in her ears.

Lizzie sprinted down the drive and made it to the main road in record time, driven by adrenaline and the notion that there was a life on the line.

Mid-Morning traffic was slim but she jumped and yelled at every car that passed by. But it seemed no one was willing to notice her on the side of the road.

She tried everything to call attention to herself until a police car drove past her without a moment's pause to aid the distressed young woman.

"Hey, wait!" She ran after the car a moment, hoping that they would spot her in the mirrors. "Wait, Come back!"

She was so caught up in chasing down the police car that she didn't notice that she had run dangerously close to the road.

So close in fact that when her foot tripped over a bit of debris that had most likely fallen off the back of a truck, and rolled to the ground, scraping up her hands, knees and shins on the process. She didn't look around the temporarily empty road before rolling over with a gasp.

"Shit," she hissed and examined the large, gory scrape up her shin that was infected with grime and pebbles, and dripped long red rivets of blood

"God Dammit" she began to pull herself up and dust herself up, still unaware of her surroundings until she heard the blare of a horn and looked up.

What happened next, quite literally, hit her like a truck.

A van to be more specific, but that hardly mattered to her as she suddenly understood how a deer in headlights felt before they were smashed into by the fender of an SUV.

Her head hit the pavement hard, enough to flash stars before her eyes. She felt no pain, but instead a warm tingle in her lower half as she vaguely comprehended someone getting out of the SUV and hovering over her.

He spoke to her but it was muffled and dull.

All she could do is try to croak out some broken phrases like "Police" and "Help"

"Just stay still, I'm going to call an ambulance."

"We need to drive her to a hospital!"

"We can't move her, there might be spinal cord damage, just stay with her and I'll haul ass into town to get to a phone."

Lizzie became aware of a second person, another man who knelt beside her. "What should I do?"

"Anything, just keep her awake. I'll be back soon." The man ran back to the van and drove down the road, well over the speed limit.

"Alright uh, can you hear me?"

Lizzie swallowed, "Yes." She whispered and her vision began to clear up. He was a young man, younger than her.

He had neatly cut brown hair and kind, timid brown eyes.

"Are you in much pain?" He asked and she slowly shook her head, but she was sure it would come soon.

"Please, help…"

"My friend's getting help right now, he's on his way."

"No, I…Alex…" she struggled between words, "Dead…"

"Dead? Someone's dead?" the boy began to panic.

"Not…yet. House…up the road." She breathed. "Please…"

"Okay, okay, we'll help your friend. Just relax uh…" he thought. "What's your name?"

"Lizzie"

"Hi Lizzie, I'm Pete." He nodded, "Still no pain, still okay?"

Lizzie frowned and closed her eyes in discomfort as the faint wail of sirens echoed through the air.

"That's my friend, he's brought help. Don't worry, you're going to be just fine I swear." Pete assured her as the large white boxy truck pulled off to the side and several paramedics hustled out. Two carrying a stretcher.

"Is she still awake?" one asked and Pete nodded as he stood,

"She's talking, she says there's not much pain."

"She's probably in shock. You two help me get her on the stretch" the head medic instructed as two men carefully lifted Lizzie onto the stretcher began to roll her to the ambulance.

"Wait, she said something." Pete halted the head medic, "she says she has a friend at the house down the road who was hurt."

The medic eyed him, "Did she give an address?"

"No, but the only house for miles is that great big one a half a mile that way." Pete pointed down the road and the medic nodded. "We'll send a bus down to check it out. Would one of you like to ride in the ambulance to the hospital or would you like to file a police report at the station?"

"We'll follow you to the hospital." Pete nodded and made back for the car with his friend as the Ambulance set its sirens to full effect and rocketed down the road.

Lizzie in the meantime was extremely tired, but the medics would not allow her to sleep as they shined bright lights into her eyes and set to work on her lower half which was now more sore than numb.

"Can you tell us your name miss?"

"Lizzie…Borden."

"We're taking you to the hospital miss, you're going to be just fine" The nurse who knelt by her side told her in a tone that informed Lizzie was something was very, very wrong indeed.

Over the radio the medics requested an ambulance be sent to the house Pete had mentioned and Lizzie let out a sigh of relief.

They arrived at the hospital and wheeled Lizzie in quickly into the emergency ward.

"Any next of Kin?"

"None yet, she was hit by a car. The drivers were right behind us."

"Okay, we're going to have to get this girl into surgery, Name?"

"Lizzie Borden."

"The girl from the newspapers?"

Lizzie didn't remember what happened next, all that she could recall was a nurse placing a mask over her face, a turning on a gas that put her right to sleep.

The next day Lizzie awoke to the sound of a heart monitor beeping above her head.

The room smelt nauseatingly of bleach and ammonia, and everything was pristine white except for a single wood wall.

She was laying back against a mountain of pillows and blinked into the light.

She was in a hospital, a recovery ward it looked like. She noted a brace on her left wrist and reached to feel several stitches across her forehead and cheek and although she couldn't see it she also ran her fingers over a series of gruesome bruises that reached from her forehead in a crescent shape down her cheek and chin.

She was terribly sore all over, she could hardly move without flinching or whimpering. She looked at her arms and found them wrapped in gauze and that which wasn't was bruised ugly shades of purple.

And Judging by the amount of pain she was in she figured her entire body was like that.

As if guided by the hand of fate a young nurse entered with a clip board and checked on some poor sod covered in plaster in the next bed before walking over to Lizzie and smiling.

"Finally awake I see. I'll go get the doctor." She nodded a satisfied nod and turned to bring back the head doctor who was a cherry looking man in a long white coat.

"Miss. Borden, how are we feeling?"

"Would it be cliche if I say I feel like I've been hit by a truck?"

The doctor chuckled and checked over her chart, "Well, Miss Borden considering the circumstances you are a very lucky young lady."

Lizzie grumbled, "how so?"

"Well, considering the force with which that SUV hit you, we expected several broken, even shattered bones, but instead you've sustained some severe external bruising and some minor internal bruising, but other than that..." The doctor shook his head. "a few weeks of bed rest and a steady regimen of pain killers and you will be healthy as a horse."

He began to stand but Lizzie stopped him, "wait, wait, wait! I...I'm sorry but I can't pay for all this, I..."

"Oh not to worry my dear girl" the doctor smiled, "It seemed the in light of recent events the government has offered to pay for both you and your friend's medical expenses."

"Wha-wow" Lizzie blinked, "really?"

"Really, now you must get some rest."

"Wait" Lizzie stopped him once more, "what about Alexander, is he okay, did he..." she wanted to ask if he made it through but the doctor smiled and pointed to the plaster wrapped figure in the next bed.

"He's right there, and judging by the tests we have run once he wakes up he will most likely make a full recovery as well"

Lizzie sighed with relief and leaned back on the mountain of pillows. "Oh thank God."

"Now." the doctor pulled out a bottle and dumped a single pill onto a small paper cup. "This is a mild sedative, and it's going to put you to sleep for a few hours. You _must_ rest"

Lizzie nodded and downed the capsule The Doctor bade her farewell but Lizzie would not be resting, instead her mind was reeling.

Alexander would be fine, they thought any way.

And apparently the government is covering both of their medical expenses.

But now what was she to do?

She sighed and thought on what the doctor said.

 _You must rest._

She frowned but leaned back.

It seemed that would be all she could do for now.

Later that day Lizzie met with a psychiatrist, named Doctor Taylor.

"Doctor, can I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"You have access to my medical records yes?"

"Yes, I've gone over the physical trauma you're been thought" the purple hair woman said and Lizzie nodded.

"Well, when I was in that house I think I was drugged with something. Was there any trace of drugs in my system when I came in?"

The doctor thought, "Yes, I do think so. It was Methaqualone, it's a strong sedative I believe, why do you ask?"

"Well, when I was asleep, I have the strangest dream." Lizzie explained, "But I think it made me remember something from when I was very little. Something I didn't remember until now."

Dr. Taylor thought, "Well, in a high stress situation, and under the influence of drugs it is possible for repressed memories to resurface. Anything bothering you my dear?"

"I…No. No I was just curious, it's nothing important." Lizzie shook her head.

"Very well, let's go along with the test then." The doctor smiled, "I'm just going to show you a few slides."

The test was very boring and Lizzie flew through it with preoccupied responses.

"Doctor?" She stopped the woman, "I wonder if I might ask you for something?"

"Yes?"

"I would like to write a letter to someone, a family member of mine. And I wonder if you could help me by asking the nurse for some paper and a pencil."

Taylor smiled, "of course dear, I'll have it brought right to you with a clipboard."

And so it was, and Lizzie took a deep breath before writing across the top of the sheet of white paper in small, loopy script.

 _Dear Aunt Margot, I know we have not seen each other since I was a young girl. But in light of recent events I am afraid I have a few very important questions to ask you…_


	13. The Hospital

Lizzie had been sitting in a chair when Alexander awoke three days later.

She was startled by his sudden, ghostly moan and had to pause and listen for the next one to be sure it was real before quickly hitting the red call button on the bed. Causing a young nurse to enter quickly, her clunky white shoes echoing off the ward walls.

"Problem, Miss Borden?"

"Quite the opposite I think" Lizzie said as she set aside the book she had been reading. "I think my dear friend here has decided to put in an appearance."

Alex moaned again and the nurse rushed over to check his many charts and meters.

"Goodness, I'll go fetch the doctor." She rushed out and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"You do that."

The doctor returned and by the time he had arrive Alex was able to talk again, though his breath was labored and heavy.

After ensuring that everything was working well, the doctor left him alone to rest but Lizzie carefully pushed her chair by his bed, though not close enough for him to see her properly.

The medications killed a good deal of the pain, but she was still sore as if she had exercised too hard and was feeling the aftershocks.

"Hi, hi, hi there Alexander." She mimicked the greeting he first gave her when they met, "did I say that right?"

Alex shifted his eyes but could only establish she was in the room by the sound of her voice to close to him.

"Hi, hi, hi there little Lizzie. Eh, where exactly…at the risk of sounding gloopy…art thou?"

Lizzie smiled, "I'm over here."

"Would you mind ittying over closer, so I can viddy your pretty face?" Alex inquired and Lizzie frowned, she didn't want him to see her like this.

She didn't want _anyone_ to see her like this.

The bruises had gone from red and swollen to blueish-purple and swollen, a very unflattering shade for her. She was just lucky the pills and a good cold compress had taken down the swelling around her face, though she was still a bit puffy.

"Trust me, I'm doing us both a favor." She declined, smirking a little

"I'm starting to wonder if you're more trouble than you're worth. You're the only person I know who could legally die two separate times in twenty four hours and still come out unscathed."

Alex grumbled, "I don't feel much unscathed."

"Yeah, but you're breathing. That in itself is a miracle. Not every person who tossed themselves out of a three story window can say that." She frowned a moment.

"And now that you're awake I can finally tell you something I've wanted to say for the past three days."

Alex sensed there was something meaningful behind her upcoming declaration and smirked. "Yeah?"

Suddenly he hissed when she flicked his between the eyes.

"What the hell were you thinking throwing yourself out of that window!?" she tore into him,

"You scared me half to death, God damn you! You can't make a person think you've died two times in one day, that's cruel! Do you understand the amount of stress you've put me through? It's a miracle my hair hasn't turned grey!"

Alex winced at her tongue lashing, not exactly expecting her to rip into him like that.

When she was done the man smirked insufferably in a way that made her want to smother him with a pillow.

" _What?"_ she snapped and Alex snickered.

"Awe, Little Lizzie _does_ care." He teased her and Lizzie stared at him hard before laughing

"Fuck you." She muttered between giggles.

"So fill your dear, almost departed droogie in." Alex sighed "What happened after I tried to snuff it?"

"Well" Lizzie swallowed, "I ran down to the street, I got a car's attention, sent for an ambulance, and now we're here." she laid it out plainly, skipping over all the details.

"I do have some good news though," she shrugged with a smile he could not see. "I have made a perfectly _marvelous_ discovery."

"Do tell" Alex breathed in interest.

"Well, I don't know if it was the drug trip from whatever the hell that madman used to knock me out, or if it was the blunt force trauma. But…" she grinned. "It seems that bloody treatment that caused all this trouble…?"

Alex perked up, "yes? Yes? Bloody hell woman spit it out!"

Lizzie bit her lip, "It's gone Alexander." She whispered in his ear, "It's gone."

Alex froze, "what do you mean it's gone?"

"It's stopped, you see the doctors wanted me to do some minor physical therapy" Lizzie began, "and to test my arm strength they wanted me to punch this little cushion as hard as I could."

"Why?"

"I think there was a sensor or something on the other side, not the point any way." she continued

"As you can imagine I refused, there was no way I was going to risk it. But then the doctor told me to picture something I really, _really,_ hated and then try it. So I did and…"

"What did you picture?"

"What?"

"When the doc said viddy something you hate, what did you picture?"

"I don't…remember, look that doesn't matter just listen okay?" she growled, "So I punched it, as hard as I could, and nothing happened!"

"What the sensor didn't go off?"

" _No!_ I didn't feel anything, there was no pain. Okay there was a little pain but that was my muscles, but don't you get it? The treatment didn't stop me!"

Alex smiled and began to laugh before wincing and breathing heavy, Lizzie frowned and rubbed his shoulder. "I wouldn't laugh too much, you're ribs fractured and punctured your lung in several places"

Alex ignored her, "That's fantastic! That must be the most horrorshow veshch I've ever slooshied in my entire jezzny. Do you think…? If I… "

"I don't know" Lizzie swallowed, "It might be, but I wouldn't try it yet." She smiled a little and giggled nervously, "If it's not I'm afraid one attack and you'd slip into a coma."

She reached up and stroked his bare shoulder. "But we can't let on, if they knew we were back to normal who knows what could happen. And I don't fancy another stint in the loony bin."

"Nor I, little Lizzie." Alex agreed, "So we'll keep this malenky secret hush hush for now, right right?"

"Right." She groaned as she stood back up and sat in her chair.

"So can I viddy you or no?" Alex pressed and Lizzie heave a sigh,

"No, Alex."

"Why not? Did you fall down that drain pipe and wreck your beauteous listo?"

"Well, no." Lizzie muttered, "Not quite. I just don't want you to see me yet, alright?"

Alex grumbled, "Fine, be elusive and mysterious, I can wait."

Lizzie nodded, "Fine, now shut up and sleep. You need to rest."

"I've been _resting_ for three bloody days"

Lizzie sighing in slight annoyance and opened her book again, "You've been in a coma for three bloody days, that doesn't count."

"You know, you were a lot nicer when you were cured."

"And you were a lot quieter when you were in a coma." She replied calmly and flipped the page of her book.

Alex remained quiet reluctantly and listened in agonizing silence as she read until he sighed.

"So what are you reading?"

"Breakfast at Tiffany's"

Alex frowned and raised an eye brow, "you honestly _like_ that hound and horny cal?"

Lizzie thought, "I'm not even going to ask for a translation on that one." She sighed and put her book aside.

Glancing at the clock she reached for the small paper cup on the table by her hospital bed, two painkillers, some anti-inflammatories, and an antibiotic to be taken three times, as well as a muscle relaxer to be taken at night or as needed.

She checked the medication schedule on her chart and sighed, she would have to wait another hour to take the pain killers even though she felt like she could barely move without pain.

Suddenly a guardian angel, her appointed nurse walked in carrying a long, thin rectangular frame with a length of canvas secured inside it.

"How're you feeling Miss. Borden?"

"Peachy" Lizzie whimpered halfheartedly, "I don't suppose we can bump up medication time can we?"

"I'm afraid not Miss. Borden, but since we've reached the seventy two hour mark I'm going to have to check you over to make sure everything is healing properly"

She set up the board and pulled it out, revealing it to be a large changing screen.

"Normally the doctor would perform the examination but all the female doctors are busy so I volunteered"

"How kind" Lizzie struggled to push herself up, letting out a small whine. It was like having a full body sunburn, only instead of itching and burning it was tightness and soreness.

"Can you remove your clothes yourself or…"

"I think I've got it." Lizzie slipped behind the changing screen with the nurse and began to un-button her loose cotton gown, hospital issued, and letting it fall slightly to her hips.

"Undergarments as well please" the nurse urged her and Lizzie winced to reach around and unsnap her bra before letting it fall off onto the bed.

"Alright, I know it looks pretty gruesome now. But so far everything looks like it's healing quite well" The nurse nodded.

Her back suffered more than her torso, but her abdomen took the brunt of the blow, leaving it ghastly blue and purple.

"Any unusual bleeding? From your breasts or during urination?"

"No."

"Any unusual pain, anything that doesn't feel bruise related?"

"I've been getting horrible headaches, and sometimes I feel dizzy."

"That's probably from the concussion, have you suffered severe head trauma before?"

"Uh yeah" Lizzie lifted her arms as the nurse instructed her and inspected the skin of her chest and ribs. "When I was little I was in a car wreck."

"I see, were you hospitalized for that?"

"Yes."

"Another concussion?"

"Yes."

The nurse nodded and had her sit on the bed before laying on her stomach and slipping to gown fully down.

"You may be suffering post-concussion syndrome, it's fairly common. Especially if you've had previous head trauma. I'll make a note of it on your chart and the doctor will determine it later."

The nurse pressed her fingers on a particularly mean looking bruise on her shoulder, making her hiss and flinch under her hand.

"Alright, you seem to be healing quite nicely." The nurse nodded and allowed her to redress as she marked on the chart.

"How long should it take to heal fully?" Lizzie inquired and the nurse shrugged,

"The average severe bruise will take at least a couple weeks, but I would put your recovery time at about two to four weeks for external, and a little bit longer for internal."

She stood to go but the doctor entered and strode to the bed quickly. "Miss. Borden, you have a visitor." He informed her and Lizzie squinted in confusion.

"Who?" she asked, pondering who would be coming to see her of all people and the doctor motioned for someone just outside the door to come in.

"Your late father's lawyer, a Mr. Vallin."

Lizzie sighed, she remembered Josef Vallin from many tense dinners in her childhood.

The squat, balding man waddled in with his briefcase and the nurse and doctor left them.

"Good day Miss Borden." He shook her hand. "I don't suppose you remember me."

"Vividly" Lizzie said bluntly as he sat in the chair by her bed.

"Well, first off I would like to express my deepest sympathies about the ordeal you have been put through. And I assure you that after you make a full recovering, should you desire to press charges on those responsible my skills are at your disposal."

"Thank you, Sir." Lizzie responded politely, "But I don't feel that will be necessary, the Government as agreed to pay for my medical expenses and the doctors involved are already being charged for their crimes."

"Very well, now to a rather unfortunate but…necessary business." The man opened his case and pulled out a photocopied set of papers. "The matter of your late father's estate. I trust the police have already had you identify the body?"

Lizzie swallowed and nodded, shivering to think of being dragged to the police station morgue and seeing her long dead and decaying father rolled out on a cold metal tray from a giant freezer full of corpses.

"Well, your father left behind a small sum to pay for his funeral. As you are aware he wished to be cremated."

"Yes, I will arrange for his ashes to be spread in the village where he was born, he often said that's what he wanted to have done." Lizzie agreed and the man scanned the paper.

"You will receive a copy of your fathers will but he also bequeathed, in the event of his passing, to Saint Thomas's church a sizeable amount, as well as to St. Mary of Bethlehem Home for Troubled Women a charitable donation." He nodded and squinted. "And here is the passage addressing you, his heir."

He cleared his throat as Lizzie listened with surprisingly little interest, feeling in some way that is wasn't right for her to receive anything.

"To my only child, Elizabeth A. Borden, I hereby bequeath the residence in which she was born and for a short time raised, may she find happiness and safety in its walls. I also bequeath to her that which is remaining of my wealth, as well as the wish that in the event of my passing she will grow into the woman that I, and her dear mother, know that she will be. And that with this wealth and home she will not squander her skills or her life."

The Lawyer folded up the paper with a nod and reached into his suit jacket pocket, "Here is the deed to the home your father referred to, and the additional capital will be placed into your account after due process."

Lizzie unfolded the deed and frowned, "Uh, sir. I think there had been a mistake. I've never seen this address before in my life."

To the deed a picture of the home was paper clipped, showing an impressing Victorian style bungalow. According to the description it was two stories not including the attic and cellar, four bedrooms, two baths, and a large kitchen.

With its green sidings and white trim it looked the perfect house for a family of eight with room to spare, but Lizzie for the life of her could not recall ever even seeing this house let alone living in it.

"No mistake, that house has been paid off and under your father's name, now your name, for the past twenty years." The man began to leave, "you have a nice day Miss. Borden and don't hesitate to call me at my office should anything come up, my card should be behind the photo."

He left Lizzie stunned, a generous inheritance and a beautiful house with no mortgages or loans to pay off?

This was too good to be true, something had to be off.

She began to run over possible circumstances in her mind until she was startled by a voice across the room.

"Zvooks like _some odin_ is on Bog's good side."

"Oh, Alex I forgot you were there." Lizzie giggled nervously and walked over to him, sitting down before he could get a look at her.

"Hurtful" He muttered jokingly,

"I can't believe it…" she shook her head, "I _don't_ believe it." She laughed, "This is just…"

"Lucky?"

"I don't know…" She thought skeptically, "I'm not exactly running on a streak of luck if you haven't noticed."

Alex glanced at his suspended, plaster cased legs, "dually noted, but real badiwad luck has to turn horrorshow some razz, right right right?"

"I suppose…" Lizzie bit her lip, not convinced. "I just feel like I would remember a house like this."

"You were probably just a malenky babe, a teeny sladky devotchka. When you viddy it I'm sure you'll remember." Alex assured her and she exhaled with a smile.

"I wish I had your optimism."

"I wish I had your working legs."

Lizzie giggled and patted his exposed shoulder, "You'll be back in working order soon, don't worry. On the other hand I could very well be in the middle of a hustle here and not even know it. Even if it's in a will someone is bound to try and twist something."

"You just can't let choodessney veshches happen can you?"

Lizzie shook her head, "I don't believe in fables, sermons, or stories about money, particularly if they have happy endings."

"Well if you're so shilarnied about it all, do so research instead of whining." Alex groaned, growing tired of her unwavering pessimism.

Lizzie thought and nodded, "I think I will, I still have the lawyer's number." She agreed, "Yeah." She nodded and sighed. "How're you feeling?"

"Well, due to the govreet I slooshied, I am now forced to consider what I intend to do when I get out of the hospital." Alex muttered, suddenly slightly concerned that he would end up right where he started.

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that." Lizzie simpered, "the government is already paying our medical bills, and I don't think they'll stop kissing our asses until they're out of hot water." She spotted a newspaper on his side table.

"Look." She picked up the front cover and hovered it over his head so he could read the head line.

GOVERNMENT DRIVES ALEX TO SUICIDE

Under the bold print was the subtitle, MINISTER ACCUSED OF FUNDING INHUMANE TREATMENT.

"And that's one of the kinder ones." Lizzie added as Alex began to grin, "Everyone is up in arms, humanitarian groups, civil rights activists, I'm surprised there hasn't been a full riot."

Alex grinned broadly and snickered, then regretted it as he winced.

"Alright, I think it's best for you to rest." Lizzie exhaled and stood but Alex rolled his eyes.

"And if you don't I will call the doctor in here and advise him to sedate you." She threatened with her heart in the right place.

Alex smirked and breathed, "Fine, fine, fine. Don't get your knickers in a twist."


	14. Aunt Margot, Vainity, And the DeLarges

Two days Lizzie receive a letter delivered by a nurse from her Aunt Margot, her late mother's older sister who stopped communicating with the family after her sister's death.

She reclined in the hospital bed and unfolded the stationary paper carefully and read.

 _My Dear Niece,_

 _I must say that after so long an estrangement I was surprised to receive a letter from you, but after reading your inquiries I understand that I am now the only one who can tell you about your mother._

 _These are painful things to speak on Elizabeth, and for years I have fought not to remember them but now that you are grown you deserve to know what your mother was like and how she really died_

 _Your father never wished for you to know about your mother and her peculiarities, and after the car accident, when it seemed you had lost a good chunk of your memories of your mother, your father forbade anyone from telling you the truth._

 _Your mother was a very sick woman, Elizabeth, but she loved you with every fiber of her being._

 _She had been ill her entire life, depressed, paranoid, even manic at times, but you must remember in those days there were few options for those who suffered mental ailments. And the family refused to place her in one of those horrific asylums._

 _It was only after she met your father that she sought help for her condition. Your parents loved each other very much, I might even call it true love if I believed in such a thing, but your mother was never happy on the medication._

 _A year after you were born your father moved you all out to the country, hoping life outside the city would content your mother and for a time it did._

 _Until my sister's death I was a large part of your life Elizabeth, I was always around in case your mother went into a fit and your father needed to care for her, that way there would be someone to care for you as well._

 _You were always a strange child my dear, peculiar if you will, and it only intensified after your mother's death. We began to suspect that you may have inherited some of your mother's ailments and it broke your parents' heart to think that you might suffer in this life as she had._

 _After your eighth birthday your mother's ailment became steadily worse, until your father finally proposed that she be sent away to a hospital._

 _If any good came out of that car crash Elizabeth, it's that you do not have to remember your mother in that state, and I will not describe it to you for your own sake._

 _Your mother discovered that your father had booked a consultation at a mental institution in the city for her to stay in until she became well again, and that night she snuck out of the house and took you with her._

 _She left a note behind that was later burned that told us that she never wanted you to suffer as she did, and that she would do whatever it took to make sure you never ended up in a hospital like she would have._

 _After the crash the first responders were able to get you out of the car, but were not able to save your mother._

 _Your mother loved you with all her heart and soul, Elizabeth. Never doubt that she only thought she was doing what was best for you, and there was never any evil intent in her actions, only love._

 _I hope that the true story of your mother's death satisfies your inquiry, and that you will look no further into such gruesome things._

 _The best way to honor your mother's memory is to look forward instead of back._

 _Heed my Advice Elizabeth, for your own sake._

 _Margot T. Whittiger._

Lizzie finished the note stiffly and swallowed.

So that was the truth, her mother was sick just as she was.

Only in a different way.

No wonder her father couldn't face having her back, he couldn't go through that anguish again.

Lizzie didn't know how to feel about the information, it didn't change anything thing, but it answered several questions.

Such as why her father never spoke of her birth mother.

And why he had went absolutely catatonic when the doctors told him that his daughter was diagnosed with ASPD.

Before she could process this further she noticed an elderly-ish couple enter the ward, the woman with bright pink hair and a startling red slicker with a matching hat. The man was tall with balding yellow hair in a tawny suit and tie.

The man carried a fruit basket and set in on a rolling tray by Alex's bed while the young man still slept. Lizzie moved with a wince and sat on the edge of her hospital bed.

"He's still asleep." She informed them and the woman jumped a bit, startled by her voice.

The man looked up at her and was taken aback by her black and blue complexion which was slowly transferring to an even uglier blue purple and sickly green.

"But I'm sure he'll be up soon enough."

Lizzie pulled a chair up to the bed side and rested her feet on it. "You must be Mister and Missus DeLarge" She stated and they nodded, eyeing Alex.

"Lizzie Borden, nice to finally meet you." Her words were polite but she hadn't heard the best of things about them, so she was careful to make sure her tone wasn't all that friendly.

"You're the girl from the papers." Alex's mother realized and Lizzie nodded, raising her paper cup of water in a sort of salute.

"In the flesh"

The papers didn't cover Lizzie that much, mainly because they could get more of a story out of the boy that tried to kill himself then the girl who foolishly wandered into the streets. She was usually just a side note at the end of the article.

"Good Lord." Mr. DeLarge marveled, "they never said anything about you being hurt as well."

"Well, I'm afraid your son's story was more interesting." She shrugged and nodded "speaking of…" she craned her neck to grin at Alex, "Morning Sleeping Beauty."

Alexander grumbled and blinking in the light, "You know…I hate it… when you call me that." He breathed heavily and Lizzie smirked.

"Hey, if you hadn't told me you hated it I would have stopped by now." She pointed out, "anyway you have some guests."

The parents knelt down and Alex stared at them coldly.

"Hello, Lad." Mr. DeLarge began.

"Hello Son, how are you?" Mrs. DeLarge inquired in a tearful voice.

"Are you feeling any better?"

Alex's eyes didn't soften for a single second as his chest moved up and down steadily. "What gives…oh my P and Em?" He asked between breaths. "What… makes you think…you…are… welcome?"

Mrs. DeLarge started to cry and Lizzie reminded herself to scold him when they left.

"There, there mother It's alright. He doesn't mean it." The Father soothed his wife before turned back to his boy.

"You were in the papers again son, it said they had done great wrong to you and they say how the government drove you to try and…do yourself in."

Lizzie raised an eyebrow, that wasn't the _exact_ logic behind it but she sure as hell wasn't going to correct anyone. The worse the government looked the better the two of them looked.

"And when you think about it son, maybe it was our fault to in a way." Mr. DeLarge swallowed, "your home's your home, when it's all said and done son."

They left after Alexander refused to acknowledge them and when they were gone Lizzie frowned and hissed at him to get his attention, "psst, psst!"

"Huh?"

"What the hell was that?" she demanded and Alex glanced in her direction.

"whatdaya mean?"

"Your own _parents_ were just begging for your forgiveness, and you didn't even act like they were there." She crossed her arms. "Alex, like it or not they _are_ your parents. And it's clear they love you."

"They feel guilty, that's not love. That's penitence." Alex grumbled and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"Fine, but trust me when I say that if they died you would miss the hell out of them."

Alex smirked, "Am I supposed to slooshy parental soviet from the devotchka who took a hatchet to her mother?"

" _Step-mother,_ and that was a different set of circumstances. She was a _bitch_ who tried to convince my father to either put me out on the streets or send me to a reform school" Lizzie hissed, a little hurt that he would bring it up but had to agree it was a little ironic for her to be on this side of the argument.

"Meanwhile your parents genuinely seem to love you and care about you." She sighed. "Just… try. Alright? Trust me it'll make sense in the future."

Alex rolled his eyes, "so am I going to get to see you today?"

"No, but soon I think." Lizzie gazed at her reflection in the polished chrome on the bed frame as the doctor entered.

"Alex, I have good news." He announced, "By the afternoon you should be able to sit up without that cast on your head."

Lizzie paled, she had hoped he would be pinned down until she was mostly healed.

"Your head trauma seems to have made a remarkable recovery, and all you'll need is a neck brace."

"That's wonderful." Lizzie could positively _hear_ him smirking, "isn't that wonderful Lizzie?"

"Yeah." Lizzie grumbled a bit as a team of doctors and nurse entered to transport him to a separate room to remove the head cast, "fantastic."

Alexander was gone and back within a few hours and in the time Lizzie had drawn the green plastic privacy curtain about her bed and pretended to be asleep with the sheet pulled over her head.

Alex waited until all the doctors and nurses were gone before smirking a little.

"I know you're not getting any spatchka back there Little Lizzie. Stop this nazz chepooka and just let me viddy your listo a second."

Lizzie didn't respond, convinced that if she didn't move or breathe he would think she was sleeping.

"You know…" Alex began, "for a devotcka who govereets so maturely, you're behaving very much like a malenky little child."

He knew that if he could goad her enough she would snap, it was just a matter of angles.

"How about odin rooker, even a finger. Just let me viddy one hand."

There was a pause and Alex watched as she reached one hand through the curtain and let it dangle there a moment before pulling it back.

"Happy?"

Alex was amazed by her, he knew girls went through phases where they felt down on themselves but he had never met a devotchka so vain that she would go to these lengths to keep someone from seeing her.

"It's bad enough the doctors and nurses have to see me like this, I don't want you to see me to." Lizzie growled and Alex shrugged a little.

"Would it make thee feel any better if I skazat I have no lovey-dove feelings for you at all?"

"Nor I you, that's not the issue here."

"Then what is?"

"The issue is I work hard on my appearance and I won't be satisfied until it's back to normal."

Alex thought, "you know, you never govereeted about what sloochated to you to put you in here."

"It's no big deal."

"If it wasn't a big deal you'd've let me viddy you by now" Alex pointed out and Lizzie sighed.

"Look, the doctor is coming in later to check my healing." she confessed, "You'll probably be able to see then"

Alex nodded and Lizzie returned to her book and read behind the curtain until a female doctor entered with Lizzie's chart.

"Good afternoon Miss Borden, Just come to check your progress again. Only a few more of these exams and you'll be fit to leave." She said cheerfully as Lizzie winced and began to remove her gown again.

"How're you feeling?"

"Better actually" Lizzie confessed, "still painful but all in all."

The doctor checked her arms and legs and nodded with satisfaction, "very good, if you could just get on the bed please?"

Lizzie nodded and sighed and the doctor examined the still gruesome bruising on her stomach and pelvis. "Hmmm, the bruising on your pelvis seemed to be healing a bit slower than usual, but it's probably just because of the impact it took. Have the medications been helping with the pain?"

"Yes."

"Good, I don't think you'll be needing any physical therapy, just a lot of rests and several cold compresses." The doctor motioned for her to roll on her back.

"Oh, we may have to do another X-ray on your lower back."

"Why?"

"Well, we misjudged the severity of the bruising on your buttocks and back and we may have to check for kidney bruising, nothing serious just to be safe." The doctor made note of this on her chart.

"Alright, you may redress in just a minute. Just one more thing to check." The doctor took Lizzie's head in bother her hands under her chin and tilted it from side to side, occasionally feeling a vertebrae or checking her scalp.

"The swelling around your face has gone down considerably, any neck pain?"

"No, none."

"Wonderful, I will check again in another few days and hopefully by then you will be healed enough to be discharged." Lizzie smiled at the thought and nodded.

"Thank you doctor."

"You're welcome, have a nice day Miss Borden."

The doctor left and Alex was positively dying from curiosity.

"Lizzie?"

The girl sighed loudly while buttoning up the gown. "Yes?"

"I verily feel I've been more than patient."

Lizzie groaned, conceding that he wouldn't let it go until he saw her so she slipped off the bed and stood behind the curtain.

"Alright just…Don't freak out."

"Please, I've never freaked out in my… _Oh."_

 _"_ Told you it was bad" She mumbled as he took in the sight of her, and not even the worst just the parts that the modest gown revealed so her neck, face and arms.

"It's not… _that_ …bad." Alex said unconvincingly and Lizzie frowned deeply and the Blonde struggled to find any words to lighten the situation.

He had been expecting a swollen black eye, maybe some yellow and green bruising on her shoulders, or a broken arm. He wasn't prepared for such gruesome purple and blue splotches down her arms and on her face, and everywhere else he assumed.

"I, uh…what…what happened?"

"Nothing."  
Alex raised an eyebrow, "Lizzie, you don't get that from nothing"

"Promise you won't laugh?"

Lizzie sighed and sat in the chair by his bed, "I was trying to chase down a car for help and a police car drove right past me, so I ran to try and get their attention, tripped into the road and got hit by a van."

Alex was silent for a minutes before pulling in his lips to stifle a chuckle.

"It's not _funny_ "

"I know, I know, but… it's just after all the fussy-wuss you'd prod, I just messeled thou was being over dramatic. But now…" He chuckled sheepishly and glanced away. "I may or may not have produced something similar or otherwise akin to a mistake."

Lizzie smirked and accepted his, kinda sorta apology.

"But for what it's worth, at least you can googly around."

Lizzie leaned back with a smirk, "that does sort of make me feel better, thanks."


	15. Home again, Home again

**Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers, especially MissFemm who has stuck with me since chapter one another giant thank you! And sorry I didn't get to update last night but Fanfiction went on the fritz for a while, So Enjoy!**

A week later Lizzie was officially discharged from the hospital with orders to return in a few weeks for a follow up MRI to ensure that she didn't have any remaining brain injury and a clean bill of health.

She promised to visit Alex every chance she got, but judging by the event that took place the second she stepped out of the hospital, she's have a hard time traveling in peace.

As she stepped out of the hospital Lizzie hadn't expected such a rush of camera flashes and an uproar of babble from the eager reporters who had caught wind that the second victim of the Ludovico Treatment had been discharged.

Luckily two orderlies who had been standing by assisted her to the taxi and brushed off reporters like they were flies until she was safely in the back of the black London taxi.

"Quite the mad house out there." The cabbie noted and Lizzie nodded, out of breath and overwhelmed.

"Yeah, wow." She breathed, and dug the address of the mysterious house she inherited out of her pocket, "Uh, I need to go here, please."

"Right away."

They drove past the mob of reporters and through the city.

Lizzie's bruising had faded greatly until it was simply yellow and brown discolorations and the swelling had vanished as well,

While she was in the hospital her father's possessions had been divvied up among distant relatives also mentioned in the will, and what little possessions Lizzie could claim as her own had been removed from the town house and delivered to the bungalow courtesy of Mr. Vallin.

As they reached the edge of town and drove on the driver glanced at her in the rear-view mirror.

"Say, ain't you that lass from the papers?"

Lizzie contained a sigh and nodded shortly, "Yes."

"Oh uh," the cabbie seemed suddenly very ill at ease and swallowed, "well, after all this I'm sure you'll enjoy a spell in the country huh?" he tried to chuckle but Lizzie glanced up at him and he reigned it back.

It seemed he didn't know whether to regard her with pity, fear, or distrust.

A few papers covered her father's suicide, but just barely a month ago they also covered her mother's murder, putting all who encountered her in an awkward position.

They finished the drive in tense silence until the car pulled up to the long gravel drive guarded by a rather impressive iron gate of what seemed to be the only house for miles.

"You have a lovely evening miss."

Lizzie didn't return the sentiment as she paid for her ride and exited the car quickly, waiting by the gate until he pulled away and left her alone in the country side.

Reaching into her coat pocket she pulled out a large skeleton key that supposedly unlocked every door in the house.

Lizzie thought back to the official description Mr. Vallin had given her of the house.

"Now it's very old" he said, "and you might need to do some minor repair, but all in all it should be in quality condition despite its years of neglect."

Lizzie had received large file from her lawyer that contained all the information on the house and read through it time and time again, overwhelmed at the prospect of home ownership.

"Now at your request I have called to have the telephone and water connected to the house and it should be in working order by the time you are discharged but if not then here are the numbers to call to have that fixed." Lizzie picked up to plain white business cards with business names and numbers printed on them.

"However I was unable to get into contact with the electric company so you will be without heat or electricity for a while, but the house was built with a fully functioned fire place that should be able to heat the first floor sufficiently until that is fixed as well as a wood burning stove, as I said it is a very old house."

Lizzie sighed and pulled of the file once more, giving it a quick once over one more time before walking down the gravel drive way and toward the mysterious house.

The picture in the file had overstated it a bit, by Lizzie's new estimation one might be able to house five people instead of eight, and the green and white paint was chipping and faded.

Surrounded by over growth it definitely gave off a horror movie vibe but she brushed it off and walked up the wood stairs to the porch.

On the porch still sat a wicker rocking chair, a small metal bench and a small glass table covered in dirt, leaves, and mold.

Lizzie unlocked the front door and pushed it open carefully, deciding that she would have to grease the old hinges soon as it squealed open.

Inside the house it looked as if time had stood still.

Everything was coating in a thick layer of dust and cobwebs and all the curtains were shut to keep out any light.

The dim atmosphere was only enhanced by the ghostly shapes of furniture covered in aged drop cloths that at one point might have been white and Lizzie looked around with a sigh.

Whatever this place might have meant to her in her former life, it wasn't there now.

To get a better idea of the place Lizzie drew back all the curtains to let what little waning sun light could get through the tree tops in.

All her of her personal belongings delivered were set in a small mountain in what might have been a parlor or a living room.

Suddenly an idea stuck her and Lizzie dug through the boxes until she found what she was looking for, a large, bulky Polaroid camera.

If she documented all the damage she could assess everything that needed to be done to make the place livable.

She also pulled out a small notepad and a pen before going out on the porch and taking a picture of the wood rot on the pillars and base before photographing the water damage on the ceiling inside. Slipping the square pictures between the pages of the notebook for safekeeping.

After assessing everything down stairs she made for the second floor which was all bedrooms and one washroom.

Every bedroom was just as the parlor and kitchen were, untouched for over a decade except by time and whatever vermin might have made their home there.

Lizzie quickly marked down mouse traps and rat poison on the list and wandered into a small bedroom with dirty white walls.

In the corner sat a small white bed with a wooden frame, big enough for a young child. And from the ceiling hung dozens of small paper stars suspended on bits of yarn taped to the ceiling.

No toys cluttered the floor and the large shelf by the wall was devoid of anything except a few puzzle pieces and single book with a worn cover.

The white walls were greyed and yellowed with age and neglect but in the corner of Lizzie's eye she spotted strangely shaped black marking behind the bedroom door and pulled the door shut so she could get a better look at them.

It was a series of dashes and numbers with Lizzie's name beside them and those that were not faded with antiquity read thusly.

-Lizzie, 4, 40 inches

-Lizzie, 6, 45 inches

-Lizzie, 8, 50 inches

It was written pencil and even if she could not remember the house for a moment Lizzie's heart lurched and she swallowed, sitting down on the dirty carpet.

This must have been her bedroom, at one point any way.

She looked around and strained to remember something of her past in this house but found nothing.

It was as if someone had told her a tale about someone else living in this house and expected her to believe it was herself.

She took a deep breath and shook off the shadows of the past that tried to cling to her and stood up with conviction.

After evaluating the rooms she checked the bathroom, flushing the toilet and running the faucet on hot and cold to ensure that at least something worked. Which it did, but she found the hot water would not work until the electric was turned on to fuel the water heater and you had to let the water in the shower and tub run a moment to rise out any rust before it ran clear.

She did a quick once over of the attic and found it mostly structurally sound, with no holes or missing boards in the roof, but reminded herself to place a few rat traps up there for safety.

The last place to check was the cellar, which she found was completely barren except for a large electric furnace, a water heater, and a fuse box. Also by the fuse box was a large pile of dry wood, aged but usable, thankfully.

Lizzie gathered a bundle of wood under her arm and returned to the first floor with a heavy sigh.

That file told more lies than the Bible had books.

To call it a fixer upper was the understatement of the era.

Destitute and abandoned would be a better word for it, but she would have to make it work as it was the only place she had.

She just had to make it through the night, she told herself, then in the morning she would go buy at least half of the necessities on her list and try to make it as much of a habitable house as possible and tried to get a hold of the electric company so she wouldn't have to rely on the fireplace.

It was growing dark and she wished she had a clock to tell her the time, but she didn't need one to tell her that she was growing hungry.

There was obviously nothing in the house to help her with that, so she would have to bear it and settle for going hungry for a night. She hadn't expected any less and shrugged. She would only shop for the basics tomorrow.

Before the night could grow too cold she shuffled through her things and pulled out a few candles, a metal Zippo lighter and a large sleeping bag.

It was bound to get freezing in the night so she would bed down by the hearth and light a small fire to keep warm. She arranged some of the timber in the fire place and tore out some of the paper from the small note book and lit it carefully, blowing gently on the tiny flames until it caught and spread to the dry wood.

She sighed and nodded, reminding herself it would get better soon.

With a little work, okay _a lot_ of work, she could make this place perfectly pleasant. She grunted with a new found determination, she always enjoyed a challenge so she would imagine this as her most difficult challenge yet.

Turn a destitute dump into a home.

As the night grew darker she lit the candles and rummaged through her things, pulling out a folded up blanket and paper thin pillow, as well as digging through a large cardboard box until she pulled out a thick novel, she momentarily considered opting for a horror story but then remembered where she would be spending the night and settled for a drama instead.

"Let's read about someone else's troubles for a while" she muttered and lounged in the fire light.

No matter what the time was, it didn't take long for Lizzie to nod off to sleep in front of the fire, occasionally adding pieces of wood to the flame until she dropped off into a restless sleep.


	16. Alex's Proposition

So this is a shorter chapter but I've just started School again so my usual updating schedule will be off until I can work out a new routine. Hope you'll bear with me until then! Thanks!  
The next morning Lizzie awoke with renewed vigor.  
The fire had gone out in the hearth and the early morning was cold.  
Lizzie could tell it was early as she could see the faint outline of what would soon be a sunrise outside the window and stretched every muscle in her body with a groan.  
She touched her hair and grimaced at the greasy feel of it and decided to bear the cold of the shower quickly and dug out her toiletries from the mountain of cardboard boxes; robe and towel, soaps, toothbrush and toothpaste, and for the first time in over a month, makeup.  
She rushed up the stairs let the water run a moment, stripped while shivering, and sucked in a deep breath before ducking under the freezing water fall with a high pitched squeal.  
She soon adjusted to the cold and scrubbed her skin practically raw with sweetly scented liquid soaps, ignoring the slight tenderness of her bruised skin and lathered her long hair with shampoo and conditioner, gently tugging out mats and knots as she did so.  
She soon regretted not building a fire downstairs beforehand though as she tramped down the wood stairs wrapped in her robe, scrambling to the hearth to build at least a small fire to warm herself.  
After the wood caught flame she sighed and wrapped her hair with the towel and dug through the boxes until she found the one that contained her clothing, haphazardly tossed in and taped shut without care.  
She threw on a pair of mismatched under garments and a pair of jeans paired with a blue sweater which would keep her warm and help her save on the firewood.  
Setting up a small hand mirror and laying out her makeup Lizzie joyfully applied her cosmetics for the first time in what felt like forever. With lightly rouged cheeks she popped her glossed lips with a grin before lining her eyes and filling in her brows with expert care and consideration  
The foundation and rouge concealed bruises expertly and she went so far as to practically paint herself all the way down to the sweater's next line and carefully blend and shadow her neck so it didn't look artificial.  
Her first goal was to run into town and pick up nonperishable food, some cleaning supplies and vermin traps, and try to get the electric hooked up.  
The only problem being she didn't have a car to get around in, she never needed one in the city and the town was at the very least four miles away, making it over an hour's walk, even more if she would be weighed down by shopping bags.  
"Okay, okay, so it's a bit of an inconvenience. No problem, walking's healthy anyway…Just not with wet hair." She sighed and pulled the towel off her hair so the fire would dry it as she combed it out.  
She winced and hummed in discomfort as she tried to comb through her hair but found it knotted and matted from sleeping on the floor.  
While picking and hissing away at her locks she soon began to contemplate the impracticality of her long hair, which she hadn't cut for years and was well down her back and just bushed the top of her butt and was suddenly very frustrated with it, not just the knots and tangles, but along the length and texture of it.  
After drying and combing her hair she shot up and ran into the downstairs bathroom which didn't contain a shower but it did contain a large glass mirror which she wiped down with the towel and examined her long, stick straight locks with their frayed ends and their mousy brown color.  
She suddenly hated it, all of it was perfect except for her hair and Lizzie was gripped with an uncontrollable desire to change it.  
Lizzie, with a sudden burst of determination, snatched a stylish cap from her clothes box and twisted up her hair so it was contained and shoved her wallet and her house key into her pocket as well as her list and marched out the door.  
Two and a half hours later Alexander was awaken by the sounds of sneakers on tile and smiled a little, assuming it was the day nurse with breakfast.  
His cerulean eyes blurry with sleep he yawned and blinked at the hazy vision of a blonde nurse in street clothes standing by his bed and setting a newspaper on his lap before moving to the side a moment.  
"Morning Missus."  
"Morning Alex."  
Alex blinked a moment, puzzled. He winked the sleep from his eyes until it was clear and turned his head as well as he could to find a pretty young stranger sitting in the chair by his bed.  
Her skin was flawless porcelain, punctuated by two nut brown eyes that were framed with bold black lashes and her hair was a layered curtain of pale blonde that brushed just past her shoulders with two small strands framing her face that were shorter than the rest and parted down the middle.  
For a second he thought he had died and as faced with a strange angel, until he blinked and his mouth hung agape for a moment.  
"Lizzie?"  
"Yeah?"  
"Uh…" He licked his lips, stunned. "Your…your hair…and…"  
"You hate it" She said immediately, her hand moving subconsciously to her scalp.  
As soon as she saw the finished product in the mirror, Lizzie fell in love with it and she made note of the same shade of blonde dye for the future before she left the shop.  
"No, no, no, I uh…" Alex laughed, "I was just…wow."  
Lizzie blushed a little, "I know it's a big change but uh…I just need to…you know…" she couldn't put her thought process into words. It had made sense at the time.  
"No need to explain it's just uh…different. In, like, a real horrowshow way though." He assured her, noting that he had never seen her with makeup on, and that she must have taken hours doing it to cover every bruise she could.  
"So, how're you feeling?" she inquired and Alex shrugged, "alright I guess, did you visit your oh so mysterious domy then?"  
"Yeah" she sighed and pulled out the Polaroids, "It's a bit for a fixer upper, but I think I should have it halfway decent soon, hopefully" she leaned over and displayed the damage and Alex whistled, "have fun with that."  
"Oh come on, it's really not all that bad. It's not full of squatters and drug lords."  
"Always a good thing."  
"Yeah" Lizzie agreed and bit her thumb nail thoughtfully. "you know maybe it's better I don't remember the old place, that way there won't be any pressure to preserve it too much."  
Alex shrugged and noticed as she leaned over him slightly he could get a clear view down her top, at which he grinned and admired until she asked him a question and he didn't respond, prompting her to glance down at him and hit his face lightly with the pictures.  
"Seriously?" she hissed but smirked a little, "why torture yourself when you know you can't get any for the next few months?"  
"I couldn't help it." Alex laughed, "your groodies were right there, a blind veck could viddy them."  
"Wouldn't make more sense to enjoy the view when you're capable of acting on it?" she sat back in the chair and Alex growled, just his luck the treatment wore off just for him to wind up incapacitated in the hospital.  
"Well at least my malenky daydreams will verily be more accurate" He muttered and Lizzie laughed a little as Alex smirked, "enjoy that idea my darling?"  
"A narcissist enjoying the thought of someone daydreaming about her, someone alert the media" Lizzie snickered sarcastically, and slipped the pictures back into her pocket.  
She wasn't surprised Alex daydreamed of getting to know her in the biblical sense, but she was surprised he had so freely confessed it.  
She often found that sex wasn't something that usually crossed her mind.  
But when she did have it, she was always in control…always.  
"I don't you'd enjoy it with me as much as you think you would."  
Alex smirked, "Can I ask why?"  
"You're a dominate being Alexander, You and I'd just clash heads more than anything"  
"A drat in the old beddiwed can be quite the horrowshow time" he suggested and Lizzie shook her head.  
"A fight in bed will soon end with one of us kicked out of bed." She countered, "Trust me on this one, okay?"  
She sighed and stood, "I hate to run but I have to go to the power company to get the electric in the house turned on, then I have to hit the shops for cleaning supplies and food."  
"What, no kiss goodbye?" Alex asked teasingly and Lizzie sighed before kissing the top of his head and ruffling his fair hair.  
"Be good, don't harass the nurses."


	17. Georgie and Dim, and The Challenge

**Hey! I know it's been a month since I've updated but now I'm back if only for a moment so I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

Lizzie had never been so tired in her entire life.

But at the same time, the house has never looked better.

After managing to get the electric connected and the phone lines working again, she made the use of a cheap rental car to use until she could afford a better one.

It made strange noises and squealed and stalled at first but it got her where she needed, which was back to house with enough cleaning supplies to polish Buckingham Palace in the boot.

And once she got started she couldn't stop, it was almost an addictive feeling of satisfaction to watch layers of dust and grime get cleared away.

She started on the ground floor and after a good five hours, after that was all done, she made for the second floor and set to work opening all the windows to air out the house.

As she cleaned it seemed the house got brighter, as if the powdered soap and furniture polish had the power to erase the shadows of the past and let a shiny new layer glimmer through.

She paused only when she entered the room that had once been hers and hesitated a moment as she dunked the rag in the bucket of soapy water and reached for the muck covered wall.

The faded pencil markings behind the door stared out at her and she touched them gently with her spare hand before shaking her head and wiping them away with the dust and grime.

Below her she heard the rotary phone in the living room ring shrilly and she darted down the stairs, snatching the receiver up before the final ring.

"Hello?"

"Yes, is there a Miss. Borden there? This is Sergeant O'Connor of Scotland Yard."

"This is she speaking, how can I help you Sir?" she asked, leaning on the freshly cleaned wall and wrapping the cord around her arm.

"Good Evening Miss. Borden, I'm sorry to bother you but I wish to inform you that there is a matter which we require your assistance on."

"Anything Sergeant, What do you need?"

"Well Miss. Borden, we need to interview you for details regarding your time at the Ludovico Institute, for purposes regarding the upcoming trial."

Lizzie nodded, although he could not see it. "Very well, Shall I come by the station tomorrow then?"

"No need Miss. Borden, if you like we can send out two officers to interview you in your home so you might be more comfortable." The man explained and Lizzie paused but nodded.

"How very kind, when can I expect them?"

"We will send them out immediately, they should arrive within the hour. Thank you for your cooperation Miss. Borden."

"No problem at all sir, a lovely evening to you." She said with a smile in her voice as the man returned the pleasantry and hung up.

"Oh Damn." She sighed and looked around, it really wasn't fit for company yet.

Removing the dusty drop cloths from the furniture she tried to make the parlor as presentable as possible before a knock came at the door.

Pulling off the bandana that covered her hair she opened the door with a charming smile that soon dropped into a look of pure terror.

"Hi hi hi there Miss. I trust you've been expecting us?" a dark haired man leered down at her with his large, boorish looking partner behind him.

Lizzie tried to slam the door shut and pushed with all her might against them, but Georgie was able to easily overpower her, making her stumble back as the door was forced open.

"We have unfinished business my dear." Georgie closed the door behind Dim who wasted no time lunging for her. But Lizzie was too quick for his sloth like reflexes and darted for the back of the house.

The two men dashed after her, catching her just as she was about to make it out the back door and throwing her to the polished tile floor.

"Go ahead and scream if you like." George began to unbuckle his belt with a sinister grin, "There's no one for miles anyway."

Pinned down by Dim, Lizzie made due with her long, bony legs and began to kick and thrash wildly, landing a few good blows before Georgie managed to pin them down as well with his knees.

Reduced to wiggling now, George paused to admire his captive. "Try to enjoy yourself Love." He sneered and leaned forward to capture her unwilling lips with his.

George soon wished he hadn't however, as he began to howl demonically when Lizzie sunk her teeth into his lower lip and refused to let go as blood began to gush from the wound.

Dim was so startled by the woeful wailing that his grip loosened enough for Lizzie to break free and began to ravage her attacker with unholy fury.

Rolling on the clean floor George desperately tried to push her off as she climbed on top of him, knobby knees like daggers in his chest, and wrapped her hands around his thin throat.

Dim overcame his shock and moved to pry the woman off his comrade until she released George and spun on him, a flood of ruby red gore staining her lips, chin, cheeks, and shirt, and a wild look in her eye.

Having stolen Georgie's police baton she wielded it like a maniac and, with a strong arm fueled by hate, she swung at him, striking him right in the temple and watching him fall like a sack of bricks.

Both men on the floor, one unconscious and one wallowing in agony having had his entire lower lip severed, Lizzie looked around in a sudden panic.

She couldn't go back to one of those hospitals.

She couldn't let the secret get out that she and Alex were not cured.

Rushing to the pantry Lizzie took a large, gleaming kitchen knife and ran back to the two men. George was begin to roll on his stomach and was half way to getting on his knees and Lizzie walked up to him slowly and kicked him over on his back.

"Look at me." She hissed hatefully. " _Look. At. Me."_

He opened his eyes and stared up fearfully at her as she reached forward and grabbed the back of his head by a fist full of hair.

She knelt beside him, and glared evilly down on him. " _No one._ Touches me like that, unless I tell them to. _Do you understand_?" She shook him violently and he whimpered and nodded.

"Good." She threw his head down and it bounced off the tiles. "I'm going to make sure you don't forget it."

When Lizzie was done she sighed, knowing she would have to clean this whole floor again.

Tossing the knife in the sink she looked at the two corpses and knew she would have to get rid of them and the police car out front somehow.

She went to fetch the axe from the basement, figuring they would be easier to dispose of in pieces, but as she reached for the axe she spotted something on a rotting wooden shelf among the tools.

Several small packets of garden seeds, clipped together with a clothes pin.

Suddenly she had an Idea.

Within the next week the Police car was spray painted pure white, the license plate and registration papers removed, and then parked out in the woods with the doors and tires taken off so it looked like just another broken down dump job.

The kitchen floor was scrubbed, mopped, and polished once more, with a goodly amount of bleach.

And in the backyard, just within the line of sight of the kitchen window, was a large patch of freshly turned dirt, tilled and tended in time for spring.

The perfect spot for a cozy little vegetable garden, fueled by the perfect fertilizer.

There were inquires of course, many a time a police officer would stop by to ask questions.

But as far as Lizzie knew they had never arrived, she had receiver the Sergeant's phone call, yes. But they officers never arrived at the house.

She allowed them to look everywhere, but in the past few days she had made remarkable progress with the house, it was positively spotless.

New curtains hung, all the furniture cleaned thoroughly, and every surface dusted and polished.

A plumber came and examined the pipes, doing what minor repairs were required, and an exterminator determined that there were no insects or other vermin that needed to be addressed.

Soon the police stopped coming and she was left in peace.

"I've applied for a few jobs." Lizzie informed Alex during one of her visits. "But I feel like my reputation precedes me."

"Oh?" Alex inquired, not all that surprised. "Hm."

"The house is finally done. The inside anyway. Perhaps you'll pay me a visit when they finally let you out of here."

Alex nodded, or as much as he could in the neck brace, "shouldn't be long now, Little Lizzie. I'll be fit as Dodgers soon" He smirked slyly and eyed her "Then I'll prove thee wrong about you're malenky theory about us not getting on right proper in the beddiwedd. Right right?"

Lizzie sighed and eyed him, "You're incorrigible" she told him, shaking her head. "Haven't you got a crazy ex-girlfriend or something who's still got a thing for you?"

"Never had the pleasure. But if things go awry you could always fill the post" He suggested and Lizzie rolled her eyes.

"You are truly are rotten, you know that Alexander DeLarge?"

"You don't mean that."

She crossed her legs with a pout and snatched up a magazine, muttering under her breath. "Stubborn, Depraved…"

"Steadfast, Lusty…" Alex listed in an echo

"Arrogant, Decadent…" She continued, paying him no mind.

"Confident, Enjoyable…" The boy in the bed insisted and grinned, "And what of you, Little Lizzie? You're no better than I and that's the truth of it."

The girl threw down her magazine and crossed her arms, "Oh Really?"

"You're Vain, Frigid…"

"Beautiful and demure…." She corrected him and Alex smirked.

"Cruel, Snarky…"

"Admittedly a little Stern…" she nodded "but witty…" she smirked back at him.

Alex chuckled lightheartedly and looked up at her with shining azure eyes, "See my lovely, thee is no better than me."

Lizzie sighed and sat on the edge of his bed, "No…" she leaned back a little, "I suppose I'm not."

Alex looked up at her and with his good hand reached forward to stroke her thin, practically bony arm, smirking when his touch sent small goosebumps across her flesh.

Boldly he grasped her forearm in a gentle yet secure grip and kissed the back of her hand firmly, enough to tell her that for the time being that hand belonged to him.

Soon his kiss softened and she felt the hardness of his teeth graze her hand slowly as he moved to her fingers.

"Alexander."

"Hm?"

"A little more?" she whispered, blushing furiously.

Alex grinned and dragged his lips down one of her long fingers before he began to nibble and leave large, wet kisses on her knuckles.

"Alex…?" Lizzie questioned hoarsely but cut off when Alex smoothly sucked a single, slender, digit past his lips and lavished it and the others with his lips, teeth, and tongue.

Caught up in the new sensation Lizzie began to enjoy the feeling of his mouth toying with her hand and fingers and wrist until he grew bolder and sternly bit the soft ball of her palm, making her gasp and jerk away quickly.

"Ow." She hissed but the outburst didn't really hold any conviction as she cradled her hand.

"To rough?"

She glared at him with a hint of an embarrassed blush across her cheeks. "That was…" she looked away from his knowing eyes and lied. "That was weird. Your pain meds must really be doing a number on you." She half joked and stood up. "I should go, I have stuff to do."

She left without another word at a healthy clip, brushing past nurses and doctors and leaving Alex grinning brightly.

He was wearing her down.

But In Lizzie's brain she had been issued a challenge, Alex had tried to claim a part of her.

Now she would have to get him back.


	18. This Means War

_Right so this chapter isn't so much explicit but still has some NSFW themes. So yeah…ya'll have fun with that._

The next day Lizzie returned to the hospital with a surprise.

Carrying a large fruit basket she had to bear with both arms she entered the ward and smiled when she found Alex wide awake in bed.

"Good Morning Alex." She chirped cheerfully and set the basket on the table.

It was the kind you would buy to impress an employer or apologize to a loved one, a fine white wicker basket filled with grapes, strawberries, sliced oranges, apples, and pears, and a vast array of other fruits.

Lizzie also dressed for the occasion.

Hey newly dyed hair was pulled up except for the two short strands to frame her face, and she had taken time to delicately apply her make up.

Deep red lips that made her relatively small lips look larger, long thick lashes and carefully sculpted brows, all tied together with a tightly fitting red cocktail dress and matching wedges.

She had done all of this with great care and attention to detail, and her efforts were confirmed to be effective every time people had to take a pause before speaking to her.

"Welly, welly, welly, welly, well." Alex sat up as much as he could and admired the sight before him. "Aren't we looking particularly _smashing_ today my dear?"

"Aren't you sweet?" Lizzie gushed and sat the basket on the rolling table by the bed. "I thought I would bring you a little something, I just felt awful thinking of you cooped up in this hospital."

"And eh, Am I to think you've dolled yourself all up just for me?" He eyed her up and down with a hungry look in his eye.

She smirked at the reaction she was getting, just as she wanted.

She knew he wanted her now, and his mind was positively reeling with the ways he wanted to take her.

If he were able, he would probably be on her like a wild animal right now, but he couldn't and she would use that every way she could.

Sitting in the chair she crossed one leg over the other, flashing the pale flesh of her thigh to him.

"I just felt like raising some hell on the way here" she mused, "and what better way for a girl to do so?"

"Indeed." He breathed at the sight of her long legs rubbing against each other.

This was truly unfair.

"Have you eaten yet?" she inquired and Alex shook his head, "Here, I'll make you up a small something." She made for the basket and on a napkin she placed a small bunch of grapes, two red strawberries, and three orange slices.

Alex could not help but admire the outline of her back and bum in the form fitting dress and found it wasn't the thought of food that was making his mouth water.

"Here, I'll help you." She stood over him slightly at the head of the bed and Alex's eyes grew wide as she got closer, getting a positively delectable view of her breasts from this angle, and when she leaned over slightly he could practically nuzzle them.

She plucked a juicy orange slice from the bunch and hummed slightly as she applied slight pressure to the delicate skin of the fruit and placed the tip of it to Alex's lips.

Picking up on the intentions, Alexander smirked and bit into the fruit, his teeth cutting the slice in half and causing drops of the sweet juice to roll down Lizzie's fingers and his lips.

Lizzie hummed with satisfaction and instead of using the napkin to clean the juices she raised her fingers to her lips and carefully licked the sweetness away, making Alexander's heart thump harder.

"Careful now, we don't want a nurse to kick me out on account of your heart." She warned the boy in the bed with a winking smile as his heart rate monitor picked up in time.

He finished off the orange slices swiftly, trying to remain calm while eagerly anticipating the next display.

Next was the strawberries, and Alex smirked sheepishly. "You can have those love, allergies you see."

Lizzie breathed a sigh of understanding and with a smirk, raised the narrow tip of the berry to her lips.

Nibbling on the tip she broke the ruby skin and slowly savored the sweetness of the fruit, suckling on the honeyed treat and making Alex's eyes go even wider than before.

This was torture.

He became aware of a growing presence in his lower extremities as he viewed this scandalous display.

She finished off the first berry slowly and licked her lips before moving on the second and repeating her gluttonous teasing until it was gone.

All that remained on the napkin was the bunch of grapes which Lizzie plucked up with the nub of the vine pinched between two fingers.

As he reclined back she leaned just over him and dangled the fruit over his mouth, the lowest sweet treat just above his lips.

It was just like the scene he would imagine while reading the big Bible in the prison library.

A beautiful maiden tending to him as he nobly reclined on a golden bed.

Only this time the maiden didn't seem all the eager to start feeding him, only letting them dangle there just tortuously out of reach.

"Go on then." She whispered lowly, her sweet voice bearing a husky overtone.

She lowered them just slightly, allowing him to just barely put his lips around it before pulling it back up only just.

"What are you…?"

"Shah" she hushed him, "You can do it." She lowered the fruit once more and this time the second his teeth brushed the flesh of the fruit she retracted it again, grinning at his discomfort.

"Lizzie" He began and she moved closer to him.

"Ask me."

"What?"

"Ask me for it Alex, politely. Sincerely." She leaned down and whispered in his ear, her lips grazing over the shell of his ear only just.

"Ask me to let you have it… Ask me, and it is yours."

It was unbearable for the sterling youth, being so out of power and at the mercy of a woman he had pictured under him so many times.

Even if he had marked her as his equal in that institute, he could not bear the thought of someone dominate over him.

He was Leader.

He was in Command.

He was head Droog at all times.

He was Alexander God Damn the Large.

And now this woman, this _girl,_ would have him ask, no, _beg_ her for something.

 _Beg her_

Alexander had never begged a day in his life.

If he wanted something he took it, and that was that.

But despite the distaste of the idea, hunger grew in his stomach and the enticing fruit was just a breath away.

A few simple words.

No one would ever have to know, not if she didn't tell anyone.

Not if he _asked her_ not to tell anyone.

"Lizzie…?"

"Yes Alex."

He swallowed hard and sucked in a breath. "peswldultmheabitiffot" He mumbled under his breath in an indistinguishable jumble of sounds.

"What was that Alex?" she pressed him and the fair haired boy swallowed even harder, trying to force down his enormous ego which was screaming at him like a wild animal.

"Please…would you let me have…a bite of fruit?" He clearly enunciated each word so he wouldn't have to say it again.

Lizzie smiled and lowered the fruit fully, granting him access to the whole vine. "Of course you may."

Alex couldn't look at her as he felt the grand podium he had been standing on begin to crumble and crack.

Sensing his distress Lizzie sighed and moved to plant a firm kiss on his lips, only for him to turn his head to avoid it and allowing her to kiss his cheek instead.

"I have a job interview in a hour." She whispered softly, her lips still tickling his jaw. "I have to go."

He didn't reply as she left him, but as soon as she turned his blue eyes stared daggers into her back.

He would not lose this easily.

He would not be laid low by her or anyone, no way no how.

And Lizzie Borden was about to find out something very important…

Alexander DeLarge is a very sore loser.


End file.
